¹¹ And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age,^(A) was enabled to bear children^(B) because she^[a] considered him faithful^(C) who had made the promise. ¹² And so from this one man, and he as good as dead,^(D) came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.^(E)

¹³ All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised;^(F) they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance,^(G) admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth.^{(H) 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.^{(I) 16} Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one.^(J) Therefore God is not ashamed^(K) to be called their God,^(L) for he has prepared a city^(M) for them.

¹⁷ By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice.^(N) He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, ¹⁸ even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.”^{[b](O) 19} Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead,^(P) and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.

²⁰ By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future.^(Q)

²¹ By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons,^(R) and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.

²² By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions concerning the burial of his bones.^(S)

²³ By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born,^(T) because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.^(U)