New International Version
Hebrews 11:20
20By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future.
Hebrews 11:20 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come.
- English Standard Version (ESV)By faith Isaac invoked future blessings on Jacob and Esau.
- New King James Version (NKJV)By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come.
- New Living Translation (NLT)It was by faith that Isaac promised blessings for the future to his sons, Jacob and Esau.
Context of Hebrews 11:20
18even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” 19Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death. By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future. 21By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff. 22By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions concerning the burial of his bones.
Read all of Hebrews 11Hebrews 11:20 word by word
Πίστει καὶ περὶ μελλόντων εὐλόγησεν Ἰσαὰκ τὸν Ἰακὼβ καὶ τὸν Ἠσαῦ.¶Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Hebrews 11:20
- Genesis 27:27So he went to him and kissed him. When Isaac caught the smell of his clothes, he blessed him and said, “Ah, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field that the Lord has blessed.
- Genesis 28:2Go at once to Paddan Aram, to the house of your mother’s father Bethuel. Take a wife for yourself there, from among the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother.
Commentaries on Hebrews 11:20
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 20By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau - He believed that God would fulfill his promise to his posterity; and God gave him to see what would befall them in their future generations. The apostle does not seem to intimate that one should be an object of the Divine hatred, and the other of Divine love, in reference to their eternal states. This is wholly a discovery of later ages. For an ample consideration of this subject, see the notes on Genesis 27 (note).Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 20By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come - see Genesis 27:26-40. The meaning is, that he pronounced a blessing on them in respect to their future condition. This was by faith in God who had communicated it to him, and in full confidence that he would accomplish all that was here predicted. The act of faith here was simply what believes that all that God says is true. There were no human probabilities at the time when these prophetic…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 20-31Verses 20-31 Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau, concerning things to come. Things present are not the best things; no man knoweth love or hatred by having them or wanting them. Jacob lived by faith, and he died by faith, and in faith. Though the grace of faith is of use always through our whole lives, it is especially so when we come to die. Faith has a great work to do at last, to help the believer to die to the Lord, so as to honour him, by patience, hope…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 20Isaac blessed: See Genesis 27:27–40. The only part of the story that could be seen as a blessing for Esau is that he would eventually break free from serving his brother. Later, Esau received blessings through Jacob's wealth (Genesis 33:8–11).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 2020. Jacob is put before Esau, as heir of the chief, namely, the spiritual blessing. concerning things to come--Greek, "even concerning things to come": not only concerning things present. Isaac, by faith, assigned to his sons things future, as if they were present.Read the comment
Topics related to Hebrews 11:20
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Hebrews 11
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Illustrated New Testament
- Burkitt’s Expository Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Family Bible Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- The People’s New Testament
- Robertson’s Word Pictures
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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