A Song Praising Israel's Ancestors

1Sing the praises of our ancestors,

those famous men

who lived long ago.

2The Lord gave them honor

and showed them his power

from the very first.

3Some of them were kings

or were famous

for their courage.

Some gave wise advice

or spoke messages from God.

4There were leaders

who made good decisions,

who learned the wisdom

passed down by our people,

and who taught it to others.

5Some of our ancestors

wrote poetry or music;

6others were rich and powerful,

but lived in peace.

7All these men

were highly honored

in their own time;

8their reputations live on,

and even today

they still are praised.

9Others of our people

are best forgotten,

as if they and their descendants

had never been born.

10But the ancestors we praise

were faithful to God,

and so we will remember

their good deeds.

11Their good name

has been handed down,

generation by generation,

12to those who follow them

in being faithful

to their agreement with God.

* 13Their families will live on,

and each new generation

will honor these ancestors,

14even though their bodies

were long ago laid to rest.

15Israel praises them,

and other nations still tell

about their wisdom.

Enoch

16 Enoch turned to the Lord

and became an example

for all time,

and the Lord was so pleased

that he took Enoch to heaven.

Noah

17 Noah was perfectly loyal to God.

And so when God in his anger

sent the flood

to sweep humans from the earth,

he spared Noah's life.

18And God made an agreement

with him--

never again will such a flood

destroy all living creatures.

Abraham

19 No one is more famous

than Abraham, the great ancestor

of many nations.

20He obeyed the Law

of God Most High

and made an agreement with God

that left a mark on his body.

And when tested by the Lord,

Abraham remained faithful.

21And so, the Lord promised

that Abraham's descendants

would be more numerous

than the stars in the sky

or specks of dust on earth.

All nations would be blessed

by his descendants,

and they would be given land

from sea to sea,

and from the Euphrates River

to the end of the earth.

Isaac

* 22 God later made the same promise

to Isaac, the son of Abraham.

Jacob

God's agreement and promise

then came to Jacob--

all people would be blessed

by his descendants,

23and God would bless him

and give him land to be divided

among the twelve tribes.