Hebrews 11:35

Hebrews 11:35, in plain English

Some people of faith experienced incredible physical resurrections—dead loved ones came back to life—while others were tortured to death and refused to accept release, because they believed in a better resurrection to come.

Why it's here

Now the author shifts. He's not just talking about victories anymore. He's talking about two different outcomes that both come from faith. Some people saw God raise their dead (like the widow whose son Elijah raised). But others were tortured, and they could have been released if they'd renounced their faith. They refused. Why? Because they believed God had something better waiting—a resurrection where they'd be vindicated before everyone, restored completely.

Who's speaking

The author of Hebrews

Where it sits in the story

This is where the chapter starts moving toward perseverance through suffering—the idea that faith includes trusting God even when circumstances get harder, not just easier.

The scholarly reading

Women received their dead back to life through resurrection; others were tortured but refused release, choosing death in hope of a greater resurrection.

Language and setting

The first image references the widow whose son Elijah raised (1 Kings 17:17-24) and the Shunamite woman whose son Elisha restored (2 Kings 4:18-37). These are extraordinary, countercultural narratives—women who possessed such faith that even death's finality was reversed. The second image—'tortured but refused release'—likely reflects 2 Maccabees 6-7, the martyrdom accounts under Antiochus IV Epiphanies. Jewish mothers and sons chose torture and death rather than renounce the law and thus the hope of resurrection. The theological pivot is crucial: both groups (those who receive their dead and those who refuse deliverance) embody faith, but faith operates differently—one affirms life in the present, the other affirms resurrection as greater than present survival.

Voice

The author of Hebrews, drawing on Elijah-Elisha narratives and interpreting 2 Maccabees through a Christian theological lens

Significance

This verse introduces a theological rupture that will dominate verses 36-40: faith includes not only triumph but also martyrdom, not only deliverance but also persistent faithfulness unto death. It suggests that the faith narrative encompasses two modes—the resurrection of the dead and the refusal of false redemption.

33who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions,

34quenched the raging fire, and escaped the edge of the sword; who gained strength from weakness, became mighty in battle, and put foreign armies to flight.

35Women received back their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured and refused their release, so that they might gain a better resurrection.

36Still others endured mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment.

37They were stoned, they were sawed in two, they were put to death by the sword. They went around in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, oppressed, and mistreated.

Read all of Hebrews 11 — A roll call of people who trusted God without seeing the outcome. By faith, by faith, by faith — the phrase becomes a drumbeat.