Ibrani 11:1-6

People Commended for Their Faith

11:1 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for, being convinced of what we do not see. 11:2 For by it the people of old ¹  received God’s commendation. ²  11:3 By faith we understand that the worlds ³  were set in order at God’s command, ⁴  so that the visible has its origin in the invisible. ⁵  11:4 By faith Abel offered God a greater sacrifice than Cain, and through his faith ⁶  he was commended as righteous, because God commended him for his offerings. And through his faith ⁷  he still speaks, though he is dead. 11:5 By faith Enoch was taken up so that he did not see death, and he was not to be found because God took him up. For before his removal he had been commended as having pleased God. 11:6 Now without faith it is impossible to please him, for the one who approaches God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

Ibrani 11:32-40

11:32 And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets. 11:33 Through faith they conquered kingdoms, administered justice, ⁸  gained what was promised, ⁹  shut the mouths of lions, 11:34 quenched raging fire, ¹⁰  escaped the edge of the sword, gained strength in weakness, ¹¹  became mighty in battle, put foreign armies to flight, 11:35 and women received back their dead raised to life. ¹²  But others were tortured, not accepting release, to obtain resurrection to a better life. ¹³  11:36 And others experienced mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 11:37 They were stoned, sawed apart, ¹⁴  murdered with the sword; they went about in sheepskins and goatskins; they were destitute, afflicted, ill-treated 11:38 (the world was not worthy of them); they wandered in deserts and mountains and caves and openings in the earth. 11:39 And these all were commended ¹⁵  for their faith, yet they did not receive what was promised. ¹⁶  11:40 For God had provided something better for us, so that they would be made perfect together with us. ¹⁷ 

[11:2]  ¹ tn Or “the elders,” “the ancients.”

[11:2]  ² tn Grk “were attested,” “received commendation”; and Heb 11:4-6 shows this to be from God.

[11:3]  ³ tn Grk “ages.” The temporal (ages) came to be used of the spatial (what exists in those time periods). See Heb 1:2 for same usage.

[11:3]  ⁴ tn Grk “by God’s word.”

[11:3]  ⁵ sn The Greek phrasing emphasizes this point by negating the opposite: “so that what is seen did not come into being from things that are visible.”

[11:4]  ⁶ tn Or “through his sacrifice”; Grk “through which.”

[11:4]  ⁷ tn Or “through his sacrifice”; Grk “through it.”

[11:33]  ⁸ tn This probably refers to the righteous rule of David and others. But it could be more general and mean “did what was righteous.”

[11:33]  ⁹ tn Grk “obtained promises,” referring to the things God promised, not to the pledges themselves.

[11:33]  sn Gained what was promised. They saw some of God’s promises fulfilled, even though the central promise remained unfulfilled until Christ came (cf. vv. 39-40).

[11:34]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “quenched the power of fire.”

[11:34]  ¹¹ tn Or “recovered from sickness.”

[11:35]  ¹² tn Grk “received back their dead from resurrection.”

[11:35]  ¹³ tn Grk “to obtain a better resurrection.”

[11:37]  ¹⁴ tc The reading ἐπρίσθησαν (ejprisqhsan, “they were sawed apart”) is found in some important witnesses (Ì⁴⁶ [D* twice reads ἐπίρσθησαν, “they were burned”?] pc sy^p sa Or^pt Eus). Other mss have ἐπειράσθησαν (ejpeirasqhsan, “they were tempted”), either before “sawed apart” ([א] L P [048] 33 81 326 1505 pc sy^h), after “sawed apart” (Ì^13vid A D¹ Ψ 1739 1881 Ï lat bo Or^pt), or altogether in place of “sawed apart” (0150 vg^mss Cl). Since the two words ἐπρίσθησαν and ἐπειράσθησαν are so much alike in sight and sound, and since the position of “they were tempted” varies in the mss, it seems best to say that ἐπειράσθησαν is an accidental corruption of ἐπρίσθησαν or an intentional change to a more common word (the root of ἐπρίσθησαν [πρίζω, prizw] occurs only here in the NT, while the root of ἐπειράσθησαν [πειράζω, peirazw] occurs 38 times). The best reading here seems to be “sawed apart” without any addition before or after. (See TCGNT 603-4, for a discussion of emendations that scholars have proposed for this difficult problem.)

[11:39]  ¹⁵ sn The expression these all were commended forms an inclusio with Heb 11:2: The chapter begins and ends with references to commendation for faith.

[11:39]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “the promise,” referring to the thing God promised, not to the pledge itself.

[11:40]  ¹⁷ tn The Greek phrasing emphasizes this point by negating the opposite: “so that they would not be made perfect without us.”