Hebrews 11:8–19

⁸By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance,^v obeyed and went,^w even though he did not know where he was going. ⁹By faith he made his home in the promised land^x like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents,^y as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise.^{z 10}For he was looking forward to the city^a with foundations,^b whose architect and builder is God.^{c 11}And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age,^d was enabled to bear children^e because she^b considered him faithful^f who had made the promise. ¹²And so from this one man, and he as good as dead,^g came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.^h

¹³All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised;ⁱ they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance,^j admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth.^{k 14}People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. ¹⁵If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return.^{l 16}Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one.^m Therefore God is not ashamedⁿ to be called their God,^o for he has prepared a city^p for them.

¹⁷By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice.^q He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, ¹⁸even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.”^{cr 19}Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead,^s and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.