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

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

Living as Those Made Alive in Christ

3 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ,^(A) set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.^{(B) 2} Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.^{(C) 3} For you died,^(D) and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.

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,

¹² And so from this one man, and he as good as dead,^(A) came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.^(B)

¹³ All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised;^(C) they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance,^(D) admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth.^{(E) 14} People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. ¹⁵ If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return.^{(F) 16} Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one.^(G) Therefore God is not ashamed^(H) to be called their God,^(I) for he has prepared a city^(J) for them.

¹⁹ Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers,^(A) but fellow citizens^(B) with God’s people and also members of his household,^(C)

¹⁷ For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.^{(A) 18} So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen,^(B) since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

Awaiting the New Body

5 For we know that if the earthly^(C) tent^(D) we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. ² Meanwhile we groan,^(E) longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling,^{(F) 3} because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. ⁴ For while we are in this tent, we groan^(G) and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling,^(H) so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. ⁵ Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.^(I)

⁶ Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. ⁷ For we live by faith, not by sight.^{(J) 8} We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.^(K)

¹³ But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth,^(A) where righteousness dwells.

¹⁴ So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless^(B) and at peace with him.

⁹ By faith he made his home in the promised land^(A) like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents,^(B) as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise.^{(C) 10} For he was looking forward to the city^(D) with foundations,^(E) whose architect and builder is God.^(F)