Hebrews 11:11-16
J.B. Phillips New Testament
SARAH
11-12 It was by faith that even Sarah gained the physical vitality to become a mother despite her great age, and she gave birth to a child when far beyond the normal years of child-bearing. She could do this because she believed that the one who had given the promise was utterly trustworthy. So it happened that from one man, who as a potential father was already considered dead, there arose a race “as numerous as the stars”, as “countless as the sands of the sea-shore”.
All the heroes of faith looked forward to their true country
13-16 All these whom we have mentioned maintained their faith but died without actually receiving God’s promises, though they had seen them in the distance, had hailed them as true and were quite convinced of their reality. They freely admitted that they lived on this earth as exiles and foreigners. Men who say that mean, of course, that their eyes are fixed upon their true home-land. If they had meant the particular country they had left behind, they had ample opportunity to return. No, the fact is that they longed for a better country altogether, nothing less than a heavenly one. And because of this faith of theirs, God is not ashamed to be called their God for in sober truth he has prepared for them a city in Heaven.
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Hebrews 11:11-13
New International Version
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)
Footnotes
- Hebrews 11:11 Or By faith Abraham, even though he was too old to have children—and Sarah herself was not able to conceive—was enabled to become a father because he
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