Hebrews 11:8-19

New English Translation

⁸ By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place he would later receive as an inheritance, and he went out without understanding where he was going. ⁹ By faith he lived as a foreigner^[a] in the promised land as though it were a foreign country, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, who were fellow heirs^[b] of the same promise. ¹⁰ For he was looking forward to the city with firm foundations,^[c] whose architect and builder is God. ¹¹ By faith, even though Sarah herself was barren and he was too old,^[d] he received the ability to procreate,^[e] because he regarded the one who had given the promise to be trustworthy. ¹² So in fact children^[f] were fathered by one man—and this one as good as dead—like the number of stars in the sky and like the innumerable grains of sand^[g] on the seashore.^{[h] 13} These all died in faith without receiving the things promised,^[i] but they saw them in the distance and welcomed them and acknowledged that they were strangers and foreigners^[j] on the earth. ¹⁴ For those who speak in such a way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. ¹⁵ In fact, if they had been thinking of the land that they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. ¹⁶ But as it is,^[k] they aspire to a better land, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. ¹⁷ By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac. He had received the promises,^[l] yet he was ready to offer up^[m] his only son. ¹⁸ God had told him, “Through Isaac descendants will carry on your name,”^{[n] 19} and he reasoned^[o] that God could even raise him from the dead, and in a sense^[p] he received him back from there.