13. It was in faith that all these persons died. They did not receive the things God had promised, but from a long way off they saw them and welcomed them, and admitted openly that they were foreigners and refugees on earth.
14. Those who say such things make it clear that they are looking for a country of their own.
15. They did not keep thinking about the country they had left; if they had, they would have had the chance to return.
16. Instead, it was a better country they longed for, the heavenly country. And so God is not ashamed for them to call him their God, because he has prepared a city for them.
17. It was faith that made Abraham offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice when God put Abraham to the test. Abraham was the one to whom God had made the promise, yet he was ready to offer his only son as a sacrifice.
18. God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that you will have the descendants I promised.”
19. Abraham reckoned that God was able to raise Isaac from death — and, so to speak, Abraham did receive Isaac back from death.
20. It was faith that made Isaac promise blessings for the future to Jacob and Esau.