(people of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts, on mountains, and sheltering in caves and holes in the ground.
Parallel translations
- WEB (of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts, mountains, caves, and the holes of the earth.
- KJV (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.
- BSB The world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and hid in caves and holes in the ground.
- NKJV of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth.
- NLT They were too good for this world, wandering over deserts and mountains, hiding in caves and holes in the ground.
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 world was not worthy of these faithful sufferers, who wandered homeless in deserts, mountains, and caves. The world despised the very people God most honored.
Overview
In a striking reversal, the author declares that the world that rejected and exiled these believers was "not worthy" of them. Driven into wildernesses and caves, they were esteemed of little account by men but precious to God. This anticipates how the world treated Christ and warns believers that God's valuation often runs contrary to the world's.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- 1 Kgs 18:4for when Jezebel cut off Yahweh’s prophets, Obadiah took one hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water.)
- 1 Kgs 19:9He came to a cave there, and camped there; and behold, Yahweh’s word came to him, and he said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
- 1 Sam 22:1David therefore departed from there, and escaped to the cave of Adullam. When his brothers and all his father’s house heard it, they went down there to him.
- Isa 57:1The righteous perish, and no one lays it to heart. Merciful men are taken away, and no one considers that the righteous is taken away from the evil.
- 1 Sam 24:1–3When Saul had returned from following the Philistines, he was told, “Behold, David is in the wilderness of En Gedi.”
- 1 Kgs 14:12–13Arise therefore, and go to your house. When your feet enter into the city, the child will die.
- 1 Kgs 18:13Wasn’t it told my lord what I did when Jezebel killed Yahweh’s prophets, how I hid one hundred men of Yahweh’s prophets with fifty to a cave, and fed them with bread and water?
- 1 Kgs 17:3“Go away from here, turn eastward, and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, that is before the Jordan.
- 1 Sam 26:1The Ziphites came to Saul to Gibeah, saying, “Doesn’t David hide himself in the hill of Hachilah, which is before the desert?”
- Ps 142:1–7A contemplation by David, when he was in the cave. A Prayer. I cry with my voice to Yahweh. With my voice, I ask Yahweh for mercy.
- 1 Sam 23:19Then the Ziphites came up to Saul to Gibeah, saying, “Doesn’t David hide himself with us in the strongholds in the woods, in the hill of Hachilah, which is on the south of the desert?
- 2 Kgs 23:25–29There was no king like him before him, who turned to Yahweh with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; and there was none like him who arose after him.
- 1 Sam 23:23See therefore, and take knowledge of all the lurking places where he hides himself, and come again to me with certainty, and I will go with you. It shall happen, if he is in the land, that I will search him out among all the thousands of Judah.”
- 1 Sam 23:15David saw that Saul had come out to seek his life. David was in the wilderness of Ziph in the wood.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 11:38 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
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