Hebrews 11:13

11:13 These all died in faith without receiving the things promised, ¹  but they saw them in the distance and welcomed them and acknowledged that they were strangers and foreigners ²  on the earth.

Hebrews 11:17-19

11:17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac. He had received the promises, ³  yet he was ready to offer up ⁴  his only son. 11:18 God had told him, “Through Isaac descendants will carry on your name,” ⁵  11:19 and he reasoned ⁶  that God could even raise him from the dead, and in a sense ⁷  he received him back from there.

Hebrews 11:39-40

11:39 And these all were commended ⁸  for their faith, yet they did not receive what was promised. ⁹  11:40 For God had provided something better for us, so that they would be made perfect together with us. ¹⁰ 

---

¹ tn Grk “the promises,” referring to the things God promised, not to the pledges themselves.

² tn Or “sojourners.”

³ tn Here “received the promises” refers to the pledges themselves, not to the things God promised.

⁴ tn Grk “he was offering up.” The tense of this verb indicates the attempt or readiness to sacrifice Isaac without the actual completion of the deed.

⁵ tn Grk “in Isaac seed will be named for you.”

sn A quotation from Gen 21:12.

⁶ tn Grk “having reasoned,” continuing the ideas of v. 17.

⁷ tn Grk “in/by a symbol.”

⁸ sn The expression these all were commended forms an inclusio with Heb 11:2: The chapter begins and ends with references to commendation for faith.

⁹ tn Grk “the promise,” referring to the thing God promised, not to the pledge itself.

¹⁰ tn The Greek phrasing emphasizes this point by negating the opposite: “so that they would not be made perfect without us.”