Women received their dead raised to life again : and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection:
Hebrews 11 is a famous passage often called the 'Hall of Faith,' listing men and women from the Old Testament who trusted God through extraordinary circumstances. The first half of this verse celebrates remarkable miracles — people whose loved ones were literally raised back to life. But the verse immediately pivots to something harder: others who were tortured, who refused to accept release from their suffering, because they were holding out for something greater — a resurrection that would outlast this life entirely. This verse captures the raw honesty of Hebrews 11: faith is not always followed by rescue in this world, and the author refuses to pretend otherwise.
God, I want the faith of the first half of this verse — the miracles, the reversals, the dramatic rescues. But today I ask for the faith of the second half too: the kind that holds on when there's no rescue in sight, that bets everything on what comes after. Make me that honest, and that brave. Amen.
Here's what never makes it onto the motivational poster: 'He was tortured and refused to be released.' We love the first half of this verse — women getting their dead back, miraculous reversals, God showing up dramatically. That's the faith we signed up for. But Hebrews 11 doesn't let you look away from the others — the ones who didn't get the miracle, who suffered and held on anyway, not because God stopped being good, but because they were betting everything on something beyond the horizon of this life. This verse doesn't resolve neatly, and you shouldn't try to make it. It isn't saying God loves some people more, or that the tortured ones lacked faith. It's saying faith doesn't come with a guaranteed outcome in the here and now — and the people who understood this most deeply are presented not as cautionary tales but as heroes. If you're in a chapter where the miracle hasn't come, where prayers feel unanswered and the waiting is grinding and long — you're not outside the Hall of Faith. You may be standing in its most honest, most costly wing.
Why does the author of Hebrews include both those who received miracles and those who suffered without rescue in the same list of faith heroes — what is the point of holding both together?
Have you ever prayed for a miracle that didn't come? How did that experience shape your understanding of what faith actually is?
If faith doesn't guarantee rescue or relief in this life, what exactly is faith for — what is it doing in the life of a person who suffers without resolution?
How do you show up for someone in your life who is in a long, unresolved chapter of suffering — and does this verse change anything about how you treat them or talk to them about God?
What does 'a better resurrection' mean to you personally, and how much does that future hope — or doubt about it — actually shape the way you live right now?
For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
Romans 8:18
And have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust.
Acts 24:15
And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
Matthew 10:28
So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
1 Corinthians 15:54
And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.
Revelation 12:11
There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
1 Corinthians 10:13
Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:
1 Peter 1:6
For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.
Luke 9:24
Women received back their dead by resurrection; and others were tortured [to death], refusing to accept release [offered on the condition of denying their faith], so that they would be resurrected to a better life;
AMP
Women received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life.
ESV
Women received [back] their dead by resurrection; and others were tortured, not accepting their release, so that they might obtain a better resurrection;
NASB
Women received back their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection.
NIV
Women received their dead raised to life again. Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection.
NKJV
Women received their loved ones back again from death. But others were tortured, refusing to turn from God in order to be set free. They placed their hope in a better life after the resurrection.
NLT
Women received their loved ones back from the dead. There were those who, under torture, refused to give in and go free, preferring something better: resurrection.
MSG