Twentieth Century [1904], THE TWENTIETH CENTURY NEW TESTAMENT A TRANSLATION INTO MODERN ENGLISH Made from the Original Greek (Westcott & Hort's Text) (The Fleming H. Revell Company, NEW YORK & CHICAGO) [word count] [B14200].
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V.—Heroes of Faith.
note
1 Faith is the realization of things hoped for—the
proof of things not seen.
2 And it was for faith
that the men of old were renowned.
3 Faith enables us to perceive that the universe was created
at the bidding of God—so that we know that what we see was
not made out of visible things. ⪆⪆
4 Faith made the sacrifice
which Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain's, and won
him renown as a righteous man, God himself establishing
his renown by accepting his gifts; and it is by the example
of his faith that Abel, though dead, still speaks. note ⪆⪆
5 Faith
led to Enoch's removal from earth, that he might not experience
death. ‘He could not be found because God had
removed him.’ For, before his removal, he was renowned
as having pleased God;
6 but without faith it is impossible to
please him, for he who comes to God must believe that God
exists, and that he rewards those who seek for him. note ⪆⪆
7 It
was faith that enabled Noah, after he had received the divine
warning about what could not then be foreseen, to build, in
reverent obedience, an ark in which to save his family. By
his faith he condemned the world, and became possessed of
that righteousness which follows upon faith. ⪆⪆
8 It was
faith that enabled Abraham to obey the Call that he received,
and to set out for the place which he was afterwards to obtain
as his own; and he set out not knowing where he was
going. note ⪆⪆
9 It was faith that made him go to live as an
emigrant in the Promised Land—as in a strange country—
living there in tents with Isaac and Jacob, who shared the
promise with him.
10 For he was looking for the City with the sure
foundations, whose architect and builder is God. ⪆⪆
11 Again,
it was faith that enabled Sarah to conceive (though she was
past the age for child-bearing), because she felt sure that he
who had given her the promise would not fail her.
12 And so
from one man—and that when his powers were dead—there
sprang a people as numerous ‘as the stars in the heavens or
the countless grains of sand upon the shore.’ note
13 All these died sustained by faith. They did not obtain the
promised blessings, but they saw them from a distance and
welcomed the sight, and they acknowledged themselves to be
only aliens and strangers on the earth. note
14 Those who speak
thus show plainly that they are seeking their fatherland.
15 If
they had been thinking of the land that they had left, they
could have found opportunities to return.
16 But no, they were
longing for a better, a heavenly, land! And therefore God
was not ashamed to be called their God; indeed he had
already prepared them a city.
-- --
17 It was faith that enabled Abraham, when put to the test, to
offer Isaac as a sacrifice—he who had received the promises
offering up his only son, note
18 of whom it had been said—
‘It is through Isaac that there shall be descendants to bear
thy name.’ note
19 For he argued that God was able even to raise a man from
the dead—and indeed, figuratively speaking, Abraham did
receive Isaac back from the dead. ⪆⪆
20 It was faith that
enabled Isaac to bless Jacob and Esau, even with regard to
the future. ⪆⪆
21 Faith enabled Jacob, when dying, to give
his blessing to each of the sons of Joseph, and ‘to bow himself
in worship as he leant upon the top of his staff.’ note ⪆⪆
22 Faith
caused Joseph, when his end was near, to speak of the future
migration of the Israelites, and to give instructions with regard
to his bones. ⪆⪆
23 Faith caused the parents of Moses to hide
the child for three months after his birth, for they saw that he
was a beautiful child; and they would not respect the King's
order. note ⪆⪆
24 It was faith that caused Moses, when he was
grown up, to refuse the title of ‘Son of a Daughter of
Pharaoh.’ note
25 He preferred sharing the hardships of God's People
to enjoying the short-lived pleasures of sin.
26 For he counted
‘the reproaches that are heaped upon the Christ’ of greater
value than the treasures of Egypt, looking forward, as he did,
to the reward awaiting him. note ⪆⪆
27 Faith caused him to leave
Egypt, though undaunted by the King's anger, for he was
strengthened in his endurance by the vision of the invisible
God. ⪆⪆
28 Faith led him to institute the Passover and the
Sprinkling of the Blood, so that the Destroyer might not
touch the eldest children of the Israelites. note ⪆⪆
29 Faith enabled
the people to cross the Red Sea, as if it had been dry land,
while the Egyptians, when they attempted to do so, were
drowned. ⪆⪆
30 Faith caused the walls of Jericho to fall after
being encircled for seven days. ⪆⪆
31 Faith saved Rahab,
the prostitute, from perishing with the unbelievers, after she
had entertained the spies with friendliness.
32 Need I add anything more? Time would fail me if I
attempted to relate the stories of Gideon, Barak, Samson, and
Jephthah, and those of David, Samuel, and the Prophets.
33 By their faith they subdued kingdoms, ruled righteously,
gained the fulfilment of God's promises, ‘shut the mouths of
lions,’ note
34 quelled the fury of the flames, escaped the edge of the
sword, found strength in the hour of weakness, displayed
their prowess in war, and routed hostile armies.
35 Women
received back their dead raised to life. Some were tortured
on the wheel, and refused release in order that they might
rise to a better life.
36 Others had to face taunts and blows,
-- --
and even chains and imprisonment.
37 They were stoned to
death, they were tortured, they were sawn asunder, they were
put to the sword; they wandered about clothed in the skins
of sheep or goats,
38 destitute, persecuted, ill-used—men of
whom the world was not worthy—roaming in lonely places,
and on the mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.
39 Yet, though they all won renown by their faith, they did
not obtain the final fulfilment of God's promise;
40 since God
had in view some better thing for us, that they, apart from us,
should not attain perfection.
Twentieth Century [1904], THE TWENTIETH CENTURY NEW TESTAMENT A TRANSLATION INTO MODERN ENGLISH Made from the Original Greek (Westcott & Hort's Text) (The Fleming H. Revell Company, NEW YORK & CHICAGO) [word count] [B14200].
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