Bible Strands
Hebrews 11:8
By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, without knowing where he was going.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The anonymous author of Hebrews writes to a Jewish Christian community under pressure to revert to the Mosaic system, placing Abraham's departure within a catalog of faith (ch. 11) to counter their wavering.
The words — Ὑπήκουσεν (hupēkousen), "obeyed," from ὑπακούω, literally "hearing under" — the same root as ὑποκριτής (hypocrite), but here in its plain sense of responsive action rather than pretense.
The thread — Genesis 12:1 records the call itself; Acts 7:2 echoes it in Stephen's defense before the Sanhedrin. Matthew 7:24 parallels the principle: hearing that produces action is the mark of the wise builder.
Why it lands — The verse isolates the gap between the command and the destination: Abraham moved before he had a map. It asks whether a reader can act on a word that has not yet been verified.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.
Cross-references
- Genesis 12:1 Then the LORD said to Abram, “Leave your country, your kindred, and your father’s household, and go to the land I will show you.
- Acts 7:2 And Stephen declared: “Brothers and fathers, listen to me! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran,
- Matthew 7:24 Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.
- Genesis 15:7 The LORD also told him, “I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.”
- Genesis 22:18 And through your offspring all nations of the earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”
- Genesis 12:7 Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your offspring.” So Abram built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him.
- James 2:14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone claims to have faith, but has no deeds? Can such faith save him?
- Psalms 105:9 the covenant He made with Abraham, and the oath He swore to Isaac.
- Isaiah 41:2 Who has aroused one from the east and called him to his feet in righteousness? He hands nations over to him and subdues kings before him. He turns them to dust with his sword, to windblown chaff with his bow.
- Romans 10:16 But not all of them welcomed the good news. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our message?”