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Wednesday, October 9th, 2024
the Week of Proper 22 / Ordinary 27
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Read the Bible

King James Version

Hebrews 11:3

Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - God;   Word of God;   Thompson Chain Reference - Ancient Heroes;   Battle of Life;   Creator;   Faith;   Faith-Unbelief;   God;   Heroes, Ancient;   The Topic Concordance - Creation;   Faith/faithfulness;   Hope;   Seeing;   Substance;   Understanding;   World;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Creation;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Creation;   Faith;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Creation;   Word;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Biblical Theology;   Create, Creation;   Word;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Infinity;   Self-Denial;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Hebrews;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Ethics;   Faith;   Gnosticism;   Hebrews, Epistle to;   World;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Aeon;   Heir Heritage Inheritance;   Restoration of Offenders;   Sacrifice;   Union with God;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Creation;   World, the;   14 Word Words;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Cherubim;   Priest;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Jephthah;   World;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Creation;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Atheism;   Creation;   Eschatology of the New Testament;   Eternal;   Frame;   Gnosticism;   Word;   World (Cosmological);  

Devotionals:

- Daily Light on the Daily Path - Devotion for March 15;   Every Day Light - Devotion for March 23;  

Parallel Translations

New American Standard Bible (1995)
By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.
Legacy Standard Bible
By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.
Simplified Cowboy Version
It's faith that helps us see that God made everything in the universe and we don't need more explanation than that.
Bible in Basic English
By faith it is clear to us that the order of events was fixed by the word of God, so that what is seen has not been made from things which only seem to be.
Darby Translation
By faith we apprehend that the worlds were framed by [the] word of God, so that that which is seen should not take its origin from things which appear.
World English Bible
By faith, we understand that the universe has been framed by the word of God, so that what is seen has not been made out of things which are visible.
Wesley's New Testament (1755)
Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were made of things which do not appear.
Weymouth's New Testament
Through faith we understand that the worlds came into being, and still exist, at the command of God, so that what is seen does not owe its existence to that which is visible.
King James Version (1611)
Through faith we vnderstand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seene were not made of things which doe appeare.
Literal Translation
By faith we understand the ages to have been framed by the Word of God, so that the things seen should not come into being out of things that appear.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Thorow faith we vnderstonde, that the worlde and all the thinges which are sene, were made of naughte by the worde of God.
Mace New Testament (1729)
'Tis by faith we learn that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the visible world was not made out of any thing that did appear.
THE MESSAGE
By faith, we see the world called into existence by God's word, what we see created by what we don't see.
Amplified Bible
By faith [that is, with an inherent trust and enduring confidence in the power, wisdom and goodness of God] we understand that the worlds (universe, ages) were framed and created [formed, put in order, and equipped for their intended purpose] by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.
American Standard Version
By faith we understand that the worlds have been framed by the word of God, so that what is seen hath not been made out of things which appear.
Revised Standard Version
By faith we understand that the world was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was made out of things which do not appear.
Tyndale New Testament (1525)
Thorow fayth we vnderstonde that the worlde was ordeyned by the worde of god: and that thynges which are sene were made of thynges which are not sene.
Update Bible Version
By faith we understand that the worlds have been framed by the word of God, so that what is seen has not been made out of things which appear.
Webster's Bible Translation
Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which appeared.
Young's Literal Translation
by faith we understand the ages to have been prepared by a saying of God, in regard to the things seen not having come out of things appearing;
New Century Version
It is by faith we understand that the whole world was made by God's command so what we see was made by something that cannot be seen.
New English Translation
By faith we understand that the worlds were set in order at God's command, so that the visible has its origin in the invisible.
Berean Standard Bible
By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.
Contemporary English Version
Because of our faith, we know that the world was made at God's command. We also know that what can be seen was made out of what cannot be seen.
Complete Jewish Bible
By trusting , we understand that the universe was created through a spoken word of God, so that what is seen did not come into being out of existing phenomena.
English Standard Version
By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Through faith we vnderstand that the world was ordeined by the worde of God, so that the things which we see, are not made of things which did appeare.
George Lamsa Translation
For it is through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen came to be from those which are not seen.
Christian Standard Bible®
By faith we understand that the universe was created by God's command, so that what is seen has been made from things that are not visible.
Hebrew Names Version
By faith, we understand that the universe has been framed by the word of God, so that what is seen has not been made out of things which are visible.
International Standard Version
By faith we understand that the universe was prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are invisible.Genesis 1:1; Psalm 33:6; John 1:3; Hebrews 1:2; 2 Peter 3:5;">[xr]
Etheridge Translation
For by faith we perceive that the worlds were ordained by the word of Aloha, and (how) these (things) which are seen were from those which are not seen.
Murdock Translation
For by faith, we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God; and that things seen, originated from those that are not seen.
New King James Version
By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.
New Living Translation
By faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at God's command, that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen.
New Life Bible
Through faith we understand that the world was made by the Word of God. Things we see were made from what could not be seen.
English Revised Version
By faith we understand that the worlds have been framed by the word of God, so that what is seen hath not been made out of things which do appear.
New Revised Standard
By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
By faith, we understand the ages to have been fitted together, by declaration of God, - to the end that, not out of things appearing, should that which is seen, have come into existence.
Douay-Rheims Bible
By faith we understand that the world was framed by the word of God: that from invisible things visible things might be made.
Lexham English Bible
By faith we understand the worlds were created by the word of God, in order that what is seen did not come into existence from what is visible.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Through fayth, we vnderstande that the worldes were ordeined by the word of God, and that thynges whiche are seene, were made of thynges whiche were not seene.
Easy-to-Read Version
Faith helps us understand that God created the whole world by his command. This means that the things we see were made by something that cannot be seen.
New American Standard Bible
By faith we understand that the world has been created by the word of God so that what is seen has not been made out of things that are visible.
Good News Translation
It is by faith that we understand that the universe was created by God's word, so that what can be seen was made out of what cannot be seen.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Bi feith we vndurstonden that the worldis weren maad bi Goddis word, that visible thingis weren maad of vnuysible thingis.

Contextual Overview

1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 2 For by it the elders obtained a good report. 3 Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

faith: Hebrews 1:2, Genesis 1:1-31, Genesis 2:1, Psalms 33:6, Isaiah 40:26, Jeremiah 10:11, Jeremiah 10:16, John 1:3, Acts 14:15, Acts 17:24, Romans 1:19-21, Romans 4:17, 2 Peter 3:5, Revelation 4:11

Reciprocal: Deuteronomy 32:11 - General Psalms 33:9 - For Isaiah 45:12 - made the earth John 1:10 - and the world was Romans 2:27 - judge Hebrews 11:5 - this testimony

Cross-References

Genesis 11:4
And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.
Genesis 11:6
And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.
Genesis 11:7
Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.
Genesis 11:18
And Peleg lived thirty years, and begat Reu:
Genesis 14:10
And the vale of Siddim was full of slimepits; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and fell there; and they that remained fled to the mountain.
Exodus 1:14
And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in morter, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour.
Exodus 2:3
And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river's brink.
2 Samuel 12:31
And he brought forth the people that were therein, and put them under saws, and under harrows of iron, and under axes of iron, and made them pass through the brick-kiln: and thus did he unto all the cities of the children of Ammon. So David and all the people returned unto Jerusalem.
Psalms 64:5
They encourage themselves in an evil matter: they commune of laying snares privily; they say, Who shall see them?
Proverbs 1:11
If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause:

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God,.... The celestial world, with its inhabitants, the angels; the starry and ethereal worlds, with all that is in them, the sun, moon, stars, and fowls of the air; the terrestrial world, with all upon it, men, beasts, c. and the watery world, the sea, and all that is therein: perhaps some respect may be had to the distinction of worlds among the Jews :-, though the apostle can scarce be thought to have any regard to their extravagant notions of vast numbers of worlds being created: they often speak of three hundred and ten worlds, in all which, they say, there are heavens, earth, stars, planets, c. f and sometimes of eighteen thousand g; but these notions are rightly charged by Philo h with ignorance and folly. However, as many worlds as there are, they are made "by the Word of God"; by Christ, the essential Word of God, to whom the creation of all things is ascribed in John 1:1. And this agrees with the sentiments of the Jews, who ascribe the creation of all things to the Word of God, as do the Targumists i, and Philo the Jew k. And these are "framed" by the Word, in a very beautiful and convenient order; the heavens before the earth; things less perfect, before those that were more so in the visible world, or terraqueous globe; and things for men, before men, for whom they were; and it is by divine revelation and faith that men form right notions of the creation, and of the author of it, and particularly of the origin of it, as follows:

so that things which are seen: as the heaven, earth, and sea, and in which the invisible things of God, the perfections of his nature, are discerned:

were not made of things which do appear; they were not made from pre-existent matter, but out of nothing, out of which the rude and undigested chaos was formed; and from that invisible mass, covered with darkness, were all visible things brought into a beautiful order; and all from secret and hidden ideas in the divine minds; and this also is the faith of the Jews, that the creation of all things is מאין, "out of nothing" l. There seems to be an allusion to the word ברא, used for creation, which signifies to make appear a thing unseen; and is rendered in the Septuagint version by δεικνυμι, Numbers 16:30 and

καταδεικνυμι, Isaiah 40:26 to show, or make appear; and thus God created, or made to appear, the heavens and earth, which before were not in being, and unseen, Genesis 1:1 and created to make, as in Genesis 2:3 that is, made them to appear, that he might put them into the form and order they now are.

f Misn. Oketzim, c. 3. sect. 12. Targum Jon. in Exod. xxviii. 30. Kettoreth Hassamim in Targum Jon. in Gen. fol. 4. 4. Lex. Cabel. p. 60, 61. g T. Bab. Avoda Zara, fol. 3. 2. Yalkut, par. 2. fol. 50. 4. h De Opificio, p. 39. i Targum Oak. in Deut. xxxiii. 27. & Ben Uzziel in Isa. xlviii. 13. k De Opificio, p. 4. & Leg. Alleg. l. 1. p. 44. l Tzeror Hammor, fol. 1. 1. Kettoreth Hassamim in Targ. Jon in Gen. fol. 5. 1, 2.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed - The first instance of the strength of faith which the apostle refers to is that by which we give credence to the declarations in the Scriptures about the work of creation; Genesis 1:1. This is selected first, evidently because it is the first thing that occurs in the Bible, or is the first thing there narrated in relation to which there is the exercise of faith. He points to no particular instance in which this faith was exercised - for none is especially mentioned - but refers to it as an illustration of the nature of faith which every one might observe in himself. The “faith” here exercised is confidence in the truth of the divine declarations in regard to the creation. The meaning is, that our knowledge on this subject is a mere matter of faith in the divine testimony. It is not that we could “reason” this out, and demonstrate that the worlds were thus made; it is not that profane history goes back to that period and informs us of it; it is simply that God has told us so in his word. The “strength” of the faith in this case is measured:

(1)By the fact that it is mere faith - that there is nothing else on which to rely in the case, and,

(2)By the greatness of the truth believed.

After all the acts of faith which have ever been exercised in this world, perhaps there is none which is really more strong, or which requires higher confidence in God, than the declaration that this vast universe has been brought into existence by a word!

We understand - We attain to the apprehension of; we receive and comprehend the idea. Our knowledge of this fact is derived only from faith, and not from our own reasoning.

That the worlds - In Genesis 1:1, it is “the heaven and the earth.” The phrase which the apostle uses denotes a plurality of worlds, and is proof that he supposed there were other worlds besides our earth. How far his knowledge extended on this point, we have no means of ascertaining, but there is no reason to doubt that he regarded the stars as “worlds” in some respects like our own. On the meaning of the Greek word used here, see the notes on Hebrews 1:2. The plural form is used there also, and in both cases, it seems to me, not without design.

Were framed - It is observable that the apostle does not here use the word “make or create.” That which he does use - καταρτίζω katartizō - means to put in order, to arrange, to complete, and may be applied to that which before had an existence, and which is to be put in order, or re-fitted; Matthew 4:24; Mark 1:19; Matthew 21:6; Hebrews 10:5. The meaning here is, that they “were set in order” by the Word of God. This implies the act of creation, but the specific idea is that of “arranging” them in the beautiful order in which they are now. Doddridge renders it “adjusted.” Kuinoel, however, supposes that the word is used here in the sense of “form, or make.” It has probably about the meaning which we attach to the phrase “fitting up anything,” as, for example, a dwelling, and includes all the previous arrangements, though the thing which is particularly denoted is not the making, but the arrangemenent. So in the work here referred to. “We arrive at the conviction that the universe was prepared or arranged in the present manner by the Word of God.”

By the word of God - This does not mean here, by the “Logos,” or the second person of the Trinity, for Paul does not use that term here or elsewhere. The word which he employs is ῥῆμα rēma - “rema” - meaning properly a word spoken, and in this place “command;” compare Genesis 1:3, Genesis 1:6,Genesis 1:9, Genesis 1:11, Genesis 1:14, Genesis 1:20; Psalms 33:6. “By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.” In regard to the agency of the Son of God in the work of the creation, see the notes on Hebrews 1:2; compare the notes on John 1:3.

So that things which are seen - The point of the remark here is, that the visible creation was not moulded out of pre-existing materials, but was made out of nothing. In reference to the grammatical construction of the passage, see Stuart, Commentary in loc. The doctrine taught is, that matter was not eternal; that the materials of the universe, as well as the arrangement, were formed by God, and that all this was done by a simple command. The “argument” here, so far as it is adapted to the purpose of the apostle, seems to be, that there was nothing which “appeared,” or which was to be “seen,” that could lay the foundation of a belief that God made the worlds; and in like manner our faith now is not to be based on what; “appears,” by which we could infer or reason out what would be, but that we must exercise strong confidence in Him who had power to create the universe out of nothing. If this vast universe has been called into existence by the mere word of God, there is nothing which we may not believe he has ample power to perform.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Hebrews 11:3. Through faith we understand — By worlds, τους αιωνας, we are to understand the material fabric of the universe; for αιων can have no reference here to age or any measurement of time, for he speaks of the things which are SEEN; not being made out of the things which do APPEAR; this therefore must refer to the material creation: and as the word is used in the plural number, it may comprehend, not only the earth and visible heavens, but the whole planetary system; the different worlds which, in our system at least, revolve round the sun. The apostle states that these things were not made out of a pre-existent matter; for if they were, that matter, however extended or modified, must appear in that thing into which it is compounded and modified, consequently it could not be said that the things which are seen are not made of the things that appear; and he shows us also, by these words, that the present mundane fabric was not formed or reformed from one anterior, as some suppose. According to Moses and the apostle we believe that God made all things out of nothing. See the note on "Genesis 1:1", c.

At present we see trees of different kinds are produced from trees beasts, birds, and fishes, from others of the same kind; and man, from man: but we are necessarily led to believe that there was a first man, who owed not his being to man; first there were beasts, c., which did not derive their being from others of the same kind and so of all manner of trees, plants, c. God, therefore, made all these out of nothing his word tells us so, and we credit that word.


 
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