1 Est autem fides sperandarum substantia rerum, argumentum non apparentium. 2 In hac enim testimonium consecuti sunt senes. 3 Fide intelligimus aptata esse sæcula verbo Dei: ut ex invisibilibus visibilia fierent. 4 Fide plurimam hostiam Abel, quam Cain, obtulit Deo, per quam testimonium consecutus est esse justus, testimonium perhibente muneribus ejus Deo, et per illam defunctus adhuc loquitur. 5 Fide Henoch translatus est ne videret mortem, et non inveniebatur, quia transtulit illum Deus: ante translationem enim testimonium habuit placuisse Deo. 6 Sine fide autem impossibile est placere Deo. Credere enim oportet accedentem ad Deum quia est, et inquirentibus se remunerator sit. 7 Fide Noë responso accepto de iis quæ adhuc non videbantur, metuens aptavit arcam in salutem domus suæ, per quam damnavit mundum: et justitiæ, quæ per fidem est, hæres est institutus. 8 Fide qui vocatur Abraham obedivit in locum exire, quem accepturus erat in hæreditatem: et exiit, nesciens quo iret. 9 Fide demoratus est in terra repromissionis, tamquam in aliena, in casulis habitando cum Isaac et Jacob cohæredibus repromissionis ejusdem. 10 Exspectabat enim fundamenta habentem civitatem: cujus artifex et conditor Deus. 11 Fide et ipsa Sara sterilis virtutem in conceptionem seminis accepit, etiam præter tempus ætatis: quoniam fidelem credidit esse eum qui repromiserat. 12 Propter quod et ab uno orti sunt (et hoc emortuo) tamquam sidera cæli in multitudinem, et sicut arena, quæ est ad oram maris, innumerabilis. 13 Juxta fidem defuncti sunt omnes isti, non acceptis repromissionibus, sed a longe eas aspicientes, et salutantes, et confitentes quia peregrini et hospites sunt super terram. 14 Qui enim hæc dicunt, significant se patriam inquirere. 15 Et si quidem ipsius meminissent de qua exierunt, habebant utique tempus revertendi: 16 nunc autem meliorem appetunt, id est, cælestem. Ideo non confunditur Deus vocari Deus eorum: paravit enim illis civitatem. 17 Fide obtulit Abraham Isaac, cum tentaretur, et unigenitum offerebat, qui susceperat repromissiones: 18 ad quem dictum est: Quia in Isaac vocabitur tibi semen: 19 arbitrans quia et a mortuis suscitare potens est Deus: unde eum et in parabolam accepit. 20 Fide et de futuris benedixit Isaac Jacob et Esau. 21◆ Fide Jacob, moriens, singulos filiorum Joseph benedixit: et adoravit fastigium virgæ ejus. 22 Fide Joseph, moriens, de profectione filiorum Israël memoratus est, et de ossibus suis mandavit. 23 Fide Moyses, natus, occultatus est mensibus tribus a parentibus suis, eo quod vidissent elegantem infantem, et non timuerunt regis edictum. 24 Fide Moyses grandis factus negavit se esse filium filiæ Pharaonis, 25 magis eligens affligi cum populo Dei, quam temporalis peccati habere jucunditatem, 26 majores divitias æstimans thesauro Ægyptiorum, improperium Christi: aspiciebat enim in remunerationem. 27 Fide reliquit Ægyptum, non veritus animositatem regis: invisibilem enim tamquam videns sustinuit. 28 Fide celebravit Pascha, et sanguinis effusionem: ne qui vastabat primitiva, tangeret eos. 29 Fide transierunt mare Rubrum tamquam per aridam terram: quod experti Ægyptii, devorati sunt. 30 Fide muri Jericho corruerunt, circuitu dierum septem. 31 Fide Rahab meretrix non periit cum incredulis, excipiens exploratores cum pace. 32 Et quid adhuc dicam? deficiet enim me tempus enarrantem de Gedeon, Barac, Samson, Jephte, David, Samuel, et prophetis: 33 qui per fidem vicerunt regna, operati sunt justitiam, adepti sunt repromissiones, obturaverunt ora leonum, 34 extinxerunt impetum ignis, effugerunt aciem gladii, convaluerunt de infirmitate, fortes facti sunt in bello, castra verterunt exterorum: 35 acceperunt mulieres de resurrectione mortuos suos: alii autem distenti sunt non suscipientes redemptionem ut meliorem invenirent resurrectionem. 36 Alii vero ludibria, et verbera experti, insuper et vincula, et carceres: 37 lapidati sunt, secti sunt, tentati sunt, in occisione gladii mortui sunt, circuierunt in melotis, in pellibus caprinis, egentes, angustiati, afflicti: 38 quibus dignus non erat mundus: in solitudinibus errantes, in montibus, in speluncis, et in cavernis terræ. 39 Et hi omnes testimonio fidei probati, non acceperunt repromissionem, 40 Deo pro nobis melius aliquid providente, ut non sine nobis consummarentur.
Hebrews 11 Clementine Vulgate
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
People & places in this chapter
From this site's family tree and Bible maps, only where those guides cite this chapter.
People
Abel
A shepherd whose faithful offering pleased God, murdered by his own brother.
Cited in the guide: Genesis 4; Hebrews 11:4
Enoch
He walked with God, and was not, for God took him — he did not die.
Cited in the guide: Genesis 5:21–24; Hebrews 11:5
Rahab
The woman of Jericho who hid the spies and became mother of Boaz.
Cited in the guide: Joshua 2, 6; Matthew 1:5; Hebrews 11:31
Cross references (40)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 2 Corinthians 5:7; 2 Corinthians 4:18; Romans 8:24–25; Hebrews 11:7; Hebrews 10:22
- 2 Hebrews 11:39; Hebrews 11:4
- 3 Psalm 33:6; 2 Peter 3:5; John 1:3; Romans 4:17; Acts 17:24
- 4 Genesis 4:3–5; 1 John 3:11–12; Hebrews 12:24; Proverbs 15:8; Genesis 4:10
- 5 Genesis 5:21–24; Jude 14; Hebrews 11:6; 2 Kings 2:11; Revelation 11:9–12
- 6 Proverbs 8:17; Jeremiah 29:13–14; Matthew 6:33; 1 Chronicles 28:9; Psalm 105:3–4
- 7 Genesis 6:13–7:1; 1 Peter 3:20; Ezekiel 14:14; Luke 17:26; Romans 4:13
- 8 Genesis 12:1–4; Acts 7:2–4; Matthew 7:24–25; Genesis 15:7–8; Genesis 22:18
- 9 Genesis 12:8; Genesis 13:18; Genesis 13:3; Acts 7:5–6; Hebrews 6:17
- 10 Hebrews 13:14; Philippians 3:20; 2 Corinthians 5:1; Hebrews 12:22; John 14:2
- 11 Hebrews 10:23; Romans 4:20–21; Genesis 18:11–14; Genesis 21:1–2; Luke 1:36
- 12 Genesis 22:17; Genesis 32:12; Hosea 1:10; Genesis 15:5; Jeremiah 33:22
- 13 Genesis 23:4; Psalm 39:12; Hebrews 11:27; Romans 8:24; Hebrews 11:39
- 14 2 Corinthians 4:18–5:7; Romans 8:23–25; Hebrews 13:14; Hebrews 11:16; Philippians 1:23
- 15 Genesis 24:6–8; Genesis 12:10
- 16 Hebrews 13:14; Philippians 3:20; Hebrews 11:10; Matthew 25:34; John 14:2
- 17 Genesis 22:16; James 2:21–24; Genesis 22:1–12; James 5:11; 1 Peter 1:6–7
- 18 Genesis 21:12; Romans 9:7; Genesis 17:19
- 19 Romans 4:17–21; Matthew 9:28; Ephesians 3:20; Genesis 22:13; Genesis 22:4–5
- 20 Genesis 27:27–40; Genesis 28:2–3
- 21 Genesis 47:31–48:1; Genesis 48:5–22
- 22 Exodus 13:19; Genesis 50:24–25; Joshua 24:32; Acts 7:16
- 23 Exodus 1:22; Exodus 1:16; Hebrews 13:6; Exodus 2:2–10; Matthew 10:28
- 24 Exodus 2:10–11; Acts 7:21–24
- 25 Psalm 84:10; 2 Timothy 2:3–10; Job 36:21; 1 Peter 4:12–16; 2 Corinthians 5:17
- 26 Hebrews 10:35; Hebrews 11:6; 1 Peter 4:14; Matthew 5:12; 2 Corinthians 6:10
- 27 2 Corinthians 4:18; Hebrews 11:13; Exodus 2:14–15; Hebrews 11:1; Exodus 4:19
- 28 Exodus 12:21–30; Hebrews 9:19; 1 Peter 1:2; Hebrews 12:24; Exodus 12:3–14
- 29 Exodus 14:13–15:21; Psalm 106:9–11; Psalm 78:13; Habakkuk 3:8–10; Isaiah 63:11–16
- 30 Joshua 6:3–20; 2 Corinthians 10:4–5
- 31 James 2:25; Joshua 6:22–25; Matthew 1:5; Joshua 2:1–24; Matthew 1:1
- 32 1 Samuel 16:1; 1 Samuel 1:20; 1 Samuel 16:13; Judges 13:1–16; Judges 11:1–12
- 33 Hebrews 6:12–15; Psalm 144:1–2; 2 Timothy 4:17; Hebrews 10:36; Hebrews 11:4–8
- 34 1 Samuel 17:51–52; 2 Kings 6:16–18; Psalm 144:10; Judges 15:8; 2 Chronicles 32:20–22
- 35 2 Kings 4:27–37; 1 Kings 17:22–24; Philippians 3:11; Acts 9:41; 1 Corinthians 15:54
- 36 Jeremiah 20:2; Genesis 39:20; Jeremiah 37:15–21; 2 Chronicles 30:10; 2 Chronicles 16:10
- 37 2 Chronicles 24:21; Jeremiah 26:23; 1 Kings 19:10; 1 Kings 21:13–15; 2 Kings 1:8
- 38 1 Kings 18:4; 1 Samuel 22:1; 1 Kings 19:9; Isaiah 57:1; 1 Samuel 24:1–3
- 39 Luke 10:23–24; Hebrews 11:13; Hebrews 11:2; 1 Peter 1:12
- 40 Revelation 6:11; Hebrews 8:6; Hebrews 10:11–14; Hebrews 5:9; Hebrews 7:19
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
Why does my Bible say something different?
- Hebrews 11:21 and Genesis 47:31: Jacob’s staff or Jacob’s bed?
In the Hebrew text of Genesis 47:31 Israel bows “upon the bed’s head.” In the Septuagint he bows “on the top of his staff,” and Hebrews 11:21 quotes the Greek. The Hebrew consonants can be read either way; only the later vowel marks decide. The Orthodox Church reads “staff,” and St John of Damascus used the verse in defending the veneration of holy things.
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
Faith needs a generous and vigorous soul, and one rising above all things of sense, and passing beyond the weakness of human reasonings. For it is not possible to become a believer, otherwise than by raising one's self above the common customs [of the world].
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 14 (1889)
Let us take (for instance) Enoch, who, being found righteous in obedience, was translated, and death was never known to happen to him. Noah, being found faithful, preached regeneration to the world through his ministry; and the Lord saved by him the animals which, with one accord, entered into the ark.
… those places and times--being itself the while the same always and everywhere, not one thing in one place, and another in another; according to which Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and Moses, and David, and all those commended by the mouth of God were righteous, but were judged unrighteous by foolish men, judging out of man's judgment, and gauging by …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 1 (1886)
… how he saith, "They that say these things, show plainly that they seek a country; and truly if they had been mindful of that from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned: but now they desire another, a better country." And again, "These all died in faith, not having obtained the promises, but having seen …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 10 (1888)
The lesson also which was read to-day invites you to the true faith, by setting before you the way in which you also must please God: for it affirms that without faith it is impossible to please Him.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)