1Now our trust in God is the guarantee of what we hope for, the evidence of what we can't see.

2People who lived long ago trusted God and this is what gained them God's approval.

3Through our trust in God we understand that the whole universe was created by God's command, that what can be seen was made out of what cannot be seen.

4By trusting him Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain, and as a result God identified him as someone who lived right. God showed this by accepting his offering. Even though Abel has been dead for a long time, he still speaks to us through what he did.

5By trusting God Enoch was taken to heaven so he didn't experience death. He couldn't be found on earth because God took him to heaven. ⁵⁵Before this happened he was known as someone God was pleased with.

6You can't expect God to be pleased with you if you don't trust him! Anyone who comes to God must believe that God exists, and that he rewards those who are searching for him.

7Noah trusted God, and was warned by him about things that had never happened before. Because Noah paid serious attention to what God said, he constructed an ark to save his family. By trusting God, Noah showed that the world was wrong, and received the reward of being set right by God.

8Through trusting God Abraham obeyed when God called him to go to the land God was going to give him. He left, not knowing where he was going.

9Trusting in God he lived in the promised land—but as a foreigner, living in tents, together with Isaac and Jacob who shared with him in inheriting the same promise.

10For Abraham was looking forward to a city built on foundations that last, with God as its builder and maker.

11By her trust in God even Sarah ⁵⁶herself was given the ability to conceive a child though she was too old, because she trusted God who had made the promise.

12That is why the descendants of Abraham (who was as good as dead!) became as numerous as the stars of heaven, as countless as the sand of the sea shore.

13They all died still trusting in God. Though they didn't receive the things God promised, they were still looking for them as it were from a distance and welcomed them, acknowledging that on this earth they were foreigners, people just passing through.

14People who say such things make it clear that they're looking for a country of their own.

15For if they cared about the country they'd left behind, they could have returned.

16But they're looking for a better country instead, a heavenly country. That is why God isn't disappointed with them, and is happy to be called their God, for he has built a city for them.

17Abraham trusted God when he was tested and offered Isaac to God. Abraham, who had accepted God's promises, was still ready to offer to God his only son, ⁵⁷

18even though he'd been told, “It's through Isaac that your descendants will be counted.” ⁵⁸

19Abraham had thought it through and decided that God could bring Isaac back to life from the dead. In a sense that's what did happen—Abraham received Isaac back from the dead.

20Trusting in God, Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to what the future would bring.

21Trusting in God, Jacob as he was dying blessed each of Joseph's sons, and worshiped God, leaning on his staff.

22Trusting in God, Joseph too, when his own death approached, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites, and gave instructions about what to do with his bones.

23Trusting in God, Moses' parents hid him for three months after he was born. They recognized he was a special child. They weren't afraid to go against what the king had commanded.

24Trusting in God, Moses, when he grew up, refused to be known as the adopted son of Pharaoh's daughter.

25Instead he chose to share in the sufferings of God's people rather than to enjoy the temporary pleasures of sin.

26He counted the rejection he experienced from following Christ to be of far greater value than the wealth of Egypt—because he was focused on the reward to come.

27Trusting in God, he left Egypt and wasn't scared of Pharaoh's anger—he kept going with his eyes fixed on the invisible God.

28Trusting in God he observed the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, so that the destroying angel would not touch the Israelites. ⁵⁹

29Trusting in God the Israelites crossed the Red Sea as if it were dry land. When the Egyptians attempted to do the same they were drowned.

30Trusting in God, the Israelites marched around the walls of Jericho for seven days, and the walls fell down.

31Trusting in God, Rahab the prostitute didn't die with those who rejected God, because she had welcomed the Israelite spies in peace.

32What other examples should I give? I don't have time to talk about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah; about David, Samuel, and the prophets.

33Because of their trust in God they conquered kingdoms, did what was good and right, received God's promises, shut the mouths of lions,

34put out blazing fires, escaped being killed by the sword, were weak but made strong, did mighty deeds in war, and routed enemy armies.

35Women were given their dead family members back through resurrection. Others were tortured, refusing to compromise and be pardoned, because they wanted to be part of a better resurrection.

36Yet others suffered insults and whippings; they were put in chains and imprisoned.

37Some were stoned, cut in pieces, tempted, killed by the sword. Some dressed in sheepskins and goatskins: destitute, oppressed, and mistreated.

38The world was not worthy to have such people who wandered in the deserts and mountains, living in caves and holes in the ground.

39All of these people, even though they had God's approval, didn't receive what God had promised.

40God has given us something even better, so that they can't be complete without us.