the Week of Proper 22 / Ordinary 27
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Read the Bible
King James Version
Hebrews 11:10
Bible Study Resources
Concordances:
- Nave'sDictionaries:
- AmericanEncyclopedias:
- InternationalParallel Translations
for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
But what ol' Abe was really waiting on was a city with foundations that would last forever built by God's own hands.
For he was looking for the strong town, whose builder and maker is God.
for he waited for the city which has foundations, of which God is [the] artificer and constructor.
For he looked for the city which has the foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
For he looked for the city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
for he continually looked forward to the city which has the foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
For hee looked for a citie which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
for he looked forward to a city having the foundations of which the builder and maker is God.
for he loked for a cite which hath a foundacion, whose buylder and maker is God.
for he had in view the city, whose foundations are sure, the architect and founder being God.
For he was [waiting expectantly and confidently] looking forward to the city which has foundations, [an eternal, heavenly city] whose architect and builder is God.
for he looked for the city which hath the foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
For he looked forward to the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
For he loked for a citie havinge a foundacio whose bylder and maker is God.
for he looked for the city which has the foundations, whose craftsman and builder is God.
For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker [is] God.
for he was looking for the city having the foundations, whose artificer and constructor [is] God.
Abraham was waiting for the city that has real foundations—the city planned and built by God.
For he was looking forward to the city with firm foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
Abraham did this, because he was waiting for the eternal city that God had planned and built.
For he was looking forward to the city with permanent foundations, of which the architect and builder is God.
For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.
For he looked for a citie hauing a foundation, whose builder and maker is God.
For he looked for a city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
For he looked for the city which has the foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
For he was waiting for the city with permanent foundations, whose architect and builder is God.Hebrews 3:4; 12:22; 13:14; Revelation 21:2,10;">[xr]
for he was expecting the city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is Aloha.
For he looked for the city that hath a foundation, of which the builder and maker is God.
for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
Abraham was confidently looking forward to a city with eternal foundations, a city designed and built by God.
Abraham was looking to God and waiting for a city that could not be moved. It was a city planned and built by God.
for he looked for the city which hath the foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
For he looked forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
For he was awaiting the city having foundations, whose architect and builder is, God.
For he looked for a city that hath foundations: whose builder and maker is God.
For he was expecting the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
For he loked for a citie hauyng a foundation, whose buylder and maker is God.
Abraham was waiting for the city that has real foundations. He was waiting for the city that is planned and built by God.
for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
For Abraham was waiting for the city which God has designed and built, the city with permanent foundations.
For he abood a citee hauynge foundementis, whos crafti man and maker is God.
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
he looked: Hebrews 12:22, Hebrews 12:28, Hebrews 13:14, John 14:2, Philippians 3:20,*Gr: Revelation 21:2, 10-27
whose: Hebrews 3:4, Isaiah 14:32, 2 Corinthians 5:1
Reciprocal: Genesis 9:27 - dwell 1 Kings 6:1 - build Psalms 107:7 - that they Song of Solomon 1:17 - beams Jeremiah 33:2 - the maker Acts 7:5 - he gave 2 Timothy 2:19 - the foundation Hebrews 8:2 - which Hebrews 11:16 - for Revelation 21:14 - foundations
Cross-References
And Eber lived after he begat Peleg four hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters.
And Reu lived after he begat Serug two hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters.
And Serug lived thirty years, and begat Nahor:
Now these are the generations of Terah: Terah begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran begat Lot.
Gill's Notes on the Bible
For he looked for a city which hath foundations,.... Not the city of Jerusalem, nor the Gospel church state; but either the city of the new Jerusalem, said to have twelve foundations,
Revelation 21:14 and in which glorious state, Abraham, with the rest of the saints, being raised from the dead, will in person possess the promised land; or else the ultimate glory of the saints in heaven, where God dwells, and keeps his palace; and which will be the dwelling place of the saints, and will have in it many habitations; and which will be both peaceable and safe, and full of glory, riches, joy, and pleasure; and into which none but holy and righteous persons will enter; the "foundations" of which are the everlasting love of God, eternal election, the covenant of grace, the promise and preparation of it by God, from the foundation of the world, and the Lord Jesus Christ, his blood and righteousness; which show the immovableness of it, it being opposed to the tabernacles Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob dwelt in, and to the transitory enjoyments of this world: and for this sure, immovable, and comfortable state of things, Abraham was "looking" by faith; he looked through, and above temporal things, to spiritual things; he went through difficulties with cheerfulness, did not greedily covet earthly things, but looked with disdain upon them, and to heaven with faith, affection, and earnest desire; and this proves his faith to be, as that is defined, Hebrews 11:1
whose builder and maker is God: God the Father has prepared this glory from the foundation of the world, and has promised before the world began, and has chosen his people to it; the Spirit of God makes it known, and prepares them for it; and the Lord Jesus Christ is the forerunner entered, who is gone to get it ready for them, and will put them into the possession of it: this shows the superior excellency of this city, or glorious state; and that God has the sole right to dispose of it.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
For he looked for a city which hath foundations - It has been doubted to what the apostle here refers. Grotius and some others suppose, that he refers to Jerusalem, as a permanent dwelling for his posterity, in contradistinction from the unsettled mode of life which Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob led. But there is no evidence that Abraham looked forward to the building of such a city, for no promise was made to him of this kind; and this interpretation falls evidently below the whole drift of the passage; compare Hebrews 11:14-16; Hebrews 12:22; Hebrews 13:14. Phrases like that of “the city of God,” “a city with foundations,” “the new Jerusalem,” and “the heavenly Jerusalem” in the time of the apostle, appear to have acquired a kind of technical signification. They referred to “heaven” - of which Jerusalem, the seat of the worship of God, seems to have been regarded as the emblem. Thus, in Hebrews 12:22, the apostle speaks of the “heavenly Jerusalem,” and in Hebrews 13:14, he says, “here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come.”
In Revelation 21:2, John says that he “saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God, out of heaven,” and proceeds in that chapter and the following to give a most beautiful description of it. Even so early as the time of Abraham, it would seem that the future blessedness of the righteous was foretold under the image of a splendid city reared on permanent foundations. It is remarkable that Moses does not mention this as an object of the faith of Abraham, and it is impossible to ascertain the degree of distinctness which this had in his view. It is probable that the apostle in speaking of his faith in this particular did not rely on any distinct record, or even any tradition, but spoke of his piety in the language which he would use to characterize religion of any age, or in any individual. He was accustomed, in common with others of his time, to contemplate the future blessedness of the righteous under the image of a beautiful city; a place where the worship of God would be celebrated for ever - a city of which Jerusalem was the most striking representation to the mind of a Jew. It was natural for him to speak of strong piety in this manner wherever it existed, and especially in such a case as that of Abraham, who left his own habitation to wander in a distant land,
This fact showed that he regarded himself as a stranger and sojourner, and yet he had a strong expectation of a fixed habitation, and a permanent inheritance. He must, therefore, have looked on to the permanent abodes of the righteous; the heavenly city; and though he had an undoubted confidence that the promised land would be given to his posterity, yet as he did not possess it himself, he must have looked for his own permanent abode to the fixed residence of the just in heaven. This passage seems to me to prove that Abraham had an expectation of future happiness after death. There is not the slightest evidence that he supposed there would be a magnificent and glorious capital where the Messiah would personally reign, and where the righteous dead, raised from their graves, would dwell in the second advent of the Redeemer. All that the passage fairly implies is, that while Abraham. expected the possession of the promised land for his posterity, yet his faith looked beyond this for a permanent home in a future world.
Whose builder and maker is God - Which would not be reared by the agency of man, but of which God was the immediate and direct architect. This shows conclusively, I think, that the reference in this allusion to the “city” is not to Jerusalem, as Grotius supposes; but the language is just such as will appropriately describe heaven, represented as a city reared without human hands or art, and founded and fashioned by the skill and power of the Deity; compare the notes on 2 Corinthians 5:1. The language here applied to God as the “architect” or framer of the universe, is often used in the classic writers. See Kuinoel and Wetstein. The apostle here commends the faith of Abraham as eminently strong. The following “hints” will furnish topics of reflection to those who are disposed to inquire more fully into its strength:
(1) The journey which he undertook was then a long and dangerous one. The distance from Haran to Palestine by a direct route was not less than four hundred miles, and this journey lay across a vast desert - a part of Arabia Deserta. That journey has always been tedious and perilous; but to see its real difficulty, we must put ourselves into the position in which the world was four thousand years ago. There was no knowledge of the way; no frequented path; no facility for traveling; no turnpike or rail-way; and such a journey then must have appeared incomparably more perilous than almost any which could now be undertaken.
(2) He was going among strangers. Who they were he knew not; but the impression could not but have been made on his mind that they were strangers to religion, and that a residence among them would be anything but desirable.
(3) He was leaving country, and home, and friends; the place of his birth and the graves of his fathers, with the moral certainty that he would see them no more.
(4) He had no right to the country which he went to receive. He could urge no claim on the ground of discovery, or inheritance, or conquest at any former period; but though he went in a peaceful manner, and with no power to take it, and could urge no claim to it whatever, yet he went with the utmost confidence that it would be his. He did not even expect to buy it - for he had no means to do this, and it seems never to have entered his mind to bargain for it in any way, except for the small portion that be needed for a burying-ground.
(5) He had no means of obtaining possession. He had no wealth to purchase it; no armies to conquer it; no title to it which could be enforced before the tribunals of the land. The prospect of obtaining it must have been distant, and probably he saw no means by which it was to be done. In such a case, his only hope could be in God.
(6) It is not impossible that the enterprise in that age might have been treated by the friends of the patriarch as perfectly wild and visionary. The prevailing religion evidently was idolatry, and the claim which Abraham set up to a special call from the Most High, might have been deemed entirely fanatical. To start off on a journey through a pathless desert; to leave his country and home, and all that he held dear, when he himself knew not whither he went; to go with no means of conquest, but with the expectation that the distant and unknown land would be given him, could not but have been regarded as a singular instance of visionary hope. The whole transaction, therefore, was in the highest degree an act of simple confidence in God, where there was no human basis of calculation, and where all the principles on which people commonly act would have led him to pursue just the contrary course. It is, therefore, not without reason that the faith of Abraham is so commended.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse Hebrews 11:10. For he looked for a city which hath foundations — He knew that earth could afford no permanent residence for an immortal mind, and he looked for that heavenly building of which God is the architect and owner; in a word, he lost sight of earth, that he might keep heaven in view. And all who are partakers of his faith possess the same spirit, walk by the same rule, and mind the same thing.
Whose builder and maker is God. — The word τεχνιτης signifies an architect, one who plans, calculates, and constructs a building. The word δημιουργος signifies the governor of a people; one who forms them by institutions and laws; the framer of a political constitution. God is here represented the Maker or Father of all the heavenly inhabitants, and the planner of their citizenship in that heavenly country. See Macknight.
