This is why the ancients were commended.
Parallel translations
- WEB For by this, the elders obtained testimony.
- KJV For by it the elders obtained a good report.
- NKJV For by it the elders obtained a good testimony.
- NASB For by it the people of old gained approval.
- NLT Through their faith, the people in days of old earned a good reputation.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The believers of old ("the elders") were commended by God because of their faith. Faith, not mere works or status, is what won God's approval.
Overview
This verse introduces the great roll-call of faith that fills chapter 11. The "elders" are the saints of the Old Testament era, who received divine "testimony"—God's own attestation that they pleased him. The author's point is that the life of faith he urges on his readers is no novelty but the very thing that distinguished God's people in every age, and it points forward to Christ, the one in whom all faith finds its object.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 2
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Hebrews is sustained worship of Christ: better than angels, Moses, and the priests; the great High Priest after Melchizedek who by one sacrifice perfects forever those he saves.
How Hebrews 11:2 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.