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Hebrews 11:4-6
New Catholic Bible
Hebrews 11:4-6
New Catholic Bible
The Faith of the Early Patriarchs.[a] 4 By faith Abel[b] offered to God a better sacrifice than that of Cain. Because of this he was attested as righteous, God himself bearing witness to his gifts. Although he is dead, he continues to speak through it.
5 By faith Enoch[c] was taken up so that he did not see death. He was found no more, because God had taken him, and before he was taken up he was attested to have pleased God. 6 But without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever comes to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Hebrews 11:4 Christian faith has firm roots in the Old Testament. Note v. 6, in which theologians have seen an assertion of the irreplaceable necessity of faith for salvation: the belief that God exists and has a personal relationship with human beings. The references to Biblical personages and the Old Testament citations are mainly from the Book of Genesis, from Exodus when speaking of Moses, and from Joshua and the following Books when speaking of the others. But the author adds non-Biblical details, such as the fate that legend attributed to Isaiah (v. 37). A similar list of heroes is found in Sirach (44:1—50:21).
- Hebrews 11:4 Abel: see Gen 4:1-15. Christ himself referred to the righteousness of Abel (see Mt 23:35).
- Hebrews 11:5 Enoch: see note on Gen 4:25—5:32 (last paragraph).
