¹³ All these people died having faith. They did not receive the things that were promised, yet they saw them in the distant future and welcomed them, acknowledging that they were strangers and foreigners on earth. ¹⁴ For people who say such things make it clear that they are looking for a country of their own. ¹⁵ If they had been thinking about what they had left behind, they would have had an opportunity to go back. ¹⁶ Instead, they were longing for a better country, that is, a heavenly one. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, because he has prepared a city for them.