Hebrews 11:38

38 the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.

Hebrews 11:38 in Other Translations

38 (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.

38 of whom the world was not worthy--wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.

38 They were too good for this world, wandering over deserts and mountains, hiding in caves and holes in the ground.

38 the world didn't deserve them! - making their way as best they could on the cruel edges of the world.

38 The world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts, mountains, caves, and holes in the ground.

Hebrews 11:38 Meaning and Commentary

Hebrews 11:38

Of whom the world was not worthy
These words are inserted in a parenthesis, to remove or prevent such objections as these; that they were restless and unquiet persons, that made disturbance in the world, and so unfit to live in it; and that they were deservedly punished for crimes they were guilty of; and to show the great worth and inestimable value of the people of God, which exceeds that of the whole world; and to intimate the removal of them out of the world, or from dwelling among the men of it, is by way of punishment to it:

they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of
the earth;
as Elijah did; ( 1 Kings 18:4 ) ( 1 Kings 19:9 1 Kings 19:10 ) , and many in the times of the Maccabees;

``And they kept the eight days with gladness, as in the feast of the tabernacles, remembering that not long afore they had held the feast of the tabernacles, when as they wandered in the mountains and dens like beasts.'' (2 Maccabees 10:6)

Hebrews 11:38 In-Context

36 Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment.

37 They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated—

38 the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.

39 These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised,

40 since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.

Cross References

• 1. 1 Kings 18:4; 1 Kings 19:9