¹⁵ If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return.^{(A) 16} Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one.^(B) Therefore God is not ashamed^(C) to be called their God,^(D) for he has prepared a city^(E) for them.

³² “Do not be afraid,^(A) little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.^(B)

²⁰ But our citizenship^(A) is in heaven.^(B) And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,^(C)

²² But you have come to Mount Zion,^(A) to the city^(B) of the living God,^(C) the heavenly Jerusalem.^(D) You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, ²³ to the church of the firstborn,^(E) whose names are written in heaven.^(F) You have come to God, the Judge of all,^(G) to the spirits of the righteous made perfect,^{(H) 24} to Jesus the mediator^(I) of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood^(J) that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.^(K)

¹⁴ For here we do not have an enduring city,^(A) but we are looking for the city that is to come.^(B)

A New Heaven and a New Earth

21 Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,”^[a](A) for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away,^(B) and there was no longer any sea. ² I saw the Holy City,^(C) the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God,^(D) prepared as a bride^(E) beautifully dressed for her husband.