011:031 Through faith the notorious sinner Rahab did not perish
along with the disobedient, for she had welcomed the spies
and had sheltered them.
011:032 And why need I say more? For time will fail me if I tell
the story of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, and of David
and Samuel and the Prophets;
011:033 men who, as the result of faith, conquered whole kingdoms,
brought about true justice, obtained promises from God,
stopped lions' mouths,
011:034 deprived fire of its power, escaped being killed by the sword,
out of weakness were made strong, became mighty in war,
put to flight foreign armies.
011:035 Women received back their dear ones alive from the dead;
and others were put to death with torture, refusing the deliverance
offered to them--that they might secure a better resurrection.
011:036 Others again were tested by cruel mockery and by scourging;
yes, and by chains and imprisonment.
011:037 They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, they were
tried by temptation, they were killed with the sword.
They went from place to place in sheepskins or goatskins,
enduring want, oppression and cruelty.
011:038 (They were men of whom the world was not worthy.)
They wandered across deserts and mountains, or hid themselves
in caves and in holes in the ground.
011:039 And although by their faith all these people won God's approval,
none of them received the fulfilment of His great promise;
011:040 for God had provided for them and us something better, so that
apart from us they were not to attain to full blessedness.
012:001 Therefore, surrounded as we are by such a vast cloud of witnesses,
let us fling aside every encumbrance and the sin that so readily