Hebrews 11:13 - Exposition

These all ( i.e. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the nomadic patriarchs, not in-eluding the antediluvian heroes, to whom what is further said does not apply) died in faith (literally, according to faith, κατὰ πίστιν , as in Hebrews 11:7 ), not having received the promises, but having seen and greeted them from afar off (omitting the ill-supported καὶ πεισθέντες of the Textus Receptus) , and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. The reference is to the confession of Abraham to the sons of Heth ( Genesis 23:1-20 . 4), "I am a stranger and a sojourner with yon," together with Jacob's words to Pharaoh ( Genesis 47:9 ), "The days of the years of my pilgrimage," etc. The import of such confession, intimated in the preceding part of the verse, is now educed.