Study Desk

Those who say such things make it clear that they are looking for a country of their own.

Instead, it was a better country they longed for, the heavenly country. And so God is not ashamed for them to call him their God, because he has prepared a city for them.

It was faith that made Isaac promise blessings for the future to Jacob and Esau.

It was faith that made the parents of Moses hide him for three months after he was born. They saw that he was a beautiful child, and they were not afraid to disobey the king's order.

He preferred to suffer with God's people rather than to enjoy sin for a little while.

He reckoned that to suffer scorn for the Messiah was worth far more than all the treasures of Egypt, for he kept his eyes on the future reward.

It was faith that made the walls of Jericho fall down after the Israelites had marched around them for seven days.

It was faith that kept the prostitute Rahab from being killed with those who disobeyed God, for she gave the Israelite spies a friendly welcome.

Should I go on? There isn't enough time for me to speak of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets.

The world was not good enough for them! They wandered like refugees in the deserts and hills, living in caves and holes in the ground.

because God had decided on an even better plan for us. His purpose was that only in company with us would they be made perfect.

As for us, we have this large crowd of witnesses around us. So then, let us rid ourselves of everything that gets in the way, and of the sin which holds on to us so tightly, and let us run with determination the race that lies before us.

Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from beginning to end. He did not give up because of the cross! On the contrary, because of the joy that was waiting for him, he thought nothing of the disgrace of dying on the cross, and he is now seated at the right side of God's throne.

For in your struggle against sin you have not yet had to resist to the point of being killed.

Our human fathers punished us for a short time, as it seemed right to them; but God does it for our own good, so that we may share his holiness.

Let no one become immoral or unspiritual like Esau, who for a single meal sold his rights as the older son.

Afterward, you know, he wanted to receive his father's blessing; but he was turned back, because he could not find any way to change what he had done, even though in tears he looked for it.

Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, "I will never leave you; I will never abandon you."

The Jewish high priest brings the blood of the animals into the Most Holy Place to offer it as a sacrifice for sins; but the bodies of the animals are burned outside the camp.

For this reason Jesus also died outside the city, in order to purify the people from sin with his own blood.