The Faith of Abraham and Sarah

8

By trusting, Avraham obeyed, after being called to go out to a place which God would give him as a possession; indeed, he went out without knowing where he was going.

9

By trusting, he lived as a temporary resident in the Land of the promise, as if it were not his, staying in tents with Yitz’chak and Ya‘akov, who were to receive what was promised along with him.

10

For he was looking forward to the city with permanent foundations, of which the architect and builder is God.

11

By trusting, he received potency to father a child, even when he was past the age for it, as was Sarah herself; because he regarded the One who had made the promise as trustworthy.

12

Therefore this one man, who was virtually dead, fathered descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky, and as countless as the grains of the sand on the seashore.

13

All these people kept on trusting until they died, without receiving what had been promised. They had only seen it and welcomed it from a distance, while acknowledging that they were aliens and temporary residents on the earth.

14

For people who speak this way make it clear that they are looking for a fatherland.

15

Now if they were to keep recalling the one they left, they would have an opportunity to return;

16

but as it is, they aspire to a better fatherland, a heavenly one. This is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.

17

By trusting, Avraham, when he was put to the test, offered up Yitz’chak as a sacrifice. Yes, he offered up his only son, he who had received the promises,

18

to whom it had been said, “What is called your ‘seed’ will be in Yitz’chak.”

19

For he had concluded that God could even raise people from the dead! And, figuratively speaking, he did so receive him.

Reading Style

Typeface

Font Size 19px

Reading Width 45 chars

Options