Hebrews 11:14

THE MESSAGE

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Now those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a homeland.

King James Version (1611)
For they that say such things, declare plainly that they seeke a countrey.

King James Version
For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.

English Standard Version
For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland.

New American Standard Bible
For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own.

New Century Version
When people say such things, they show they are looking for a country that will be their own.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own.

Legacy Standard Bible
For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own.

Berean Standard Bible
Now those who say such things show that they are seeking a country of their own.

Contemporary English Version
When people talk this way, it is clear that they are looking for a place to call their own.

Complete Jewish Bible
For people who speak this way make it clear that they are looking for a fatherland.

Darby Translation
For they who say such things shew clearly that they seek [their] country.

Easy-to-Read Version
When people accept something like that, they show they are waiting for a country that will be their own.

Geneva Bible (1587)
For they yt say such things, declare plainely, that they seeke a countrey.

George Lamsa Translation
For they who speak so, declare plainly that they seek a country for themselves.

Good News Translation
Those who say such things make it clear that they are looking for a country of their own.

Lexham English Bible
For those who say such things make clear that they are seeking a homeland.

Literal Translation
For those saying such things make clear that they seek a fatherland.

Amplified Bible
Now those who say such things make it clear that they are looking for a country of their own.

American Standard Version
For they that say such things make it manifest that they are seeking after a country of their own.

Bible in Basic English
For those who say such things make it clear that they are searching for a country for themselves.

Hebrew Names Version
For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking after a country of their own.

International Standard Version
For people who say such things make it clear that they are looking for a country of their own.Hebrews 13:14;">[xr]

Etheridge Translation
For they who these things say, make manifest that their city they are seeking.

Murdock Translation
Now they who say thus, show that they seek a city.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
For they that saye suche thynges, declare that they seke a countrey.

English Revised Version
For they that say such things make it manifest that they are seeking after a country of their own.

World English Bible
For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking after a country of their own.

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
For they who speak thus, shew plainly, that they seek their own country.

Weymouth's New Testament
for men who acknowledge this make it manifest that they are seeking elsewhere a country of their own.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And thei that sayn these thingis, signifien that thei sechen a cuntre.

Update Bible Version
For those that say such things make it manifest that they are seeking after a country of their own.

Webster's Bible Translation
For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.

New English Translation
For those who speak in such a way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland.

New King James Version
For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland.

New Living Translation
Obviously people who say such things are looking forward to a country they can call their own.

New Life Bible
People who say these things show they are looking for a country of their own.

New Revised Standard
for people who speak in this way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
For, they who such things as these are saying, make it clear that, of a paternal home they are in quest;

Douay-Rheims Bible
For they that say these things do signify that they seek a country.

Revised Standard Version
For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland.

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
They that saye soche thinges declare that they seke a coutre.

Young's Literal Translation
for those saying such things make manifest that they seek a country;

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
For they that saye soch thinges, declare, that they seke a naturall countre.

Mace New Testament (1729)
for they. that make such a declaration, show plainly that they seek some other country.

Simplified Cowboy Version
It's obvious these day hands were looking forward to a ranch they could call their own.

Contextual Overview

⁴ By an act of faith, Abel brought a better sacrifice to God than Cain. It was what he believed, not what he brought, that made the difference. That's what God noticed and approved as righteous. After all these centuries, that belief continues to catch our notice. ⁵By an act of faith, Enoch skipped death completely. "They looked all over and couldn't find him because God had taken him." We know on the basis of reliable testimony that before he was taken "he pleased God." It's impossible to please God apart from faith. And why? Because anyone who wants to approach God must believe both that he exists and that he cares enough to respond to those who seek him. ⁷ By faith, Noah built a ship in the middle of dry land. He was warned about something he couldn't see, and acted on what he was told. The result? His family was saved. His act of faith drew a sharp line between the evil of the unbelieving world and the rightness of the believing world. As a result, Noah became intimate with God. ⁸By an act of faith, Abraham said yes to God's call to travel to an unknown place that would become his home. When he left he had no idea where he was going. By an act of faith he lived in the country promised him, lived as a stranger camping in tents. Isaac and Jacob did the same, living under the same promise. Abraham did it by keeping his eye on an unseen city with real, eternal foundations—the City designed and built by God. ¹¹By faith, barren Sarah was able to become pregnant, old woman as she was at the time, because she believed the One who made a promise would do what he said. That's how it happened that from one man's dead and shriveled loins there are now people numbering into the millions. ¹³Each one of these people of faith died not yet having in hand what was promised, but still believing. How did they do it? They saw it way off in the distance, waved their greeting, and accepted the fact that they were transients in this world. People who live this way make it plain that they are looking for their true home. If they were homesick for the old country, they could have gone back any time they wanted. But they were after a far better country than that—heaven country. You can see why God is so proud of them, and has a City waiting for them. ¹⁷By faith, Abraham, at the time of testing, offered Isaac back to God. Acting in faith, he was as ready to return the promised son, his only son, as he had been to receive him—and this after he had already been told, "Your descendants shall come from Isaac." Abraham figured that if God wanted to, he could raise the dead. In a sense, that's what happened when he received Isaac back, alive from off the altar. ²⁰ By an act of faith, Isaac reached into the future as he blessed Jacob and Esau. ²¹ By an act of faith, Jacob on his deathbed blessed each of Joseph's sons in turn, blessing them with God's blessing, not his own—as he bowed worshipfully upon his staff. ²² By an act of faith, Joseph, while dying, prophesied the exodus of Israel, and made arrangements for his own burial.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

they seek: Hebrews 11:16, Hebrews 13:14, Romans 8:23-25, 2 Corinthians 4:18, 2 Corinthians 5:1-7, Philippians 1:23

Reciprocal: Genesis 12:9 - going on still Exodus 2:22 - for he said John 14:2 - my Romans 3:25 - remission Revelation 5:9 - and hast

Gill's Notes on the Bible

For they that say such things,.... That they are strangers and pilgrims on earth:

declare plainly that they seek a country; heaven, so called, for the largeness of it; it is a good land, a land of uprightness; a pleasant land, a land of rest, though a land afar off; here the Father of Christ, and Christ himself, and all his people dwell: the Syriac version renders it, "their own city"; the place of their nativity, of which they were citizens: the act of "seeking" it supposes some things, with respect to the place where they were, as that they were in a strange land, had no settlement there, nor satisfaction in it, and that they sat loose to the world, and the things of it; and some things respecting the country sought after, as that they were not in it; that it was at a distance from them; that they had some knowledge of it, and of the way to it; that their desires were after it, and that they had a strong affection and value for it: the right way to this country is not mere civility and morality, nor legal righteousness, nor birth privileges, nor submission to outward ordinances, nor a mere profession of religion, but the Lord Jesus Christ; he is the true way to eternal life; it is his righteousness which gives a title to it, and on account of which believers expect it, though not without holiness, nor without trouble. The right manner of seeking it is, in the first place, above all things else, with the whole heart, by faith, and by patient continuance in well doing. Many are the reasons which may induce believers to seek it; it is their own, and their Father's country; it is a better one than that in which they are; and because of the company they shall there enjoy, and the work they shall be employed in; and because of the happiness they will be possessed of; and because their inheritance, riches, and treasures, lie here.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For they that say such things ... - That speak of themselves as having come into a land of strangers; and that negotiate for a small piece of land, not to cultivate, but to bury their dead. So we should think of any strange people coming among us now - who lived in tents; who frequently changed their residence; who became the purchasers of no land except to bury their dead, and who never spake of becoming permanent residents. We should think that they were in search of some place as their home, and that they had not yet found it. Such people were the Hebrew patriarchs. They lived and acted just as if they had not yet found a permanent habitation, but were traveling in search of one.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 14. Declare plainly that they seek a country. — A man's country is that in which he has constitutional rights and privileges; no stranger or sojourner has any such rights in the country where he sojourns. These, by declaring that they felt themselves strangers and sojourners, professed their faith in a heavenly country and state, and looked beyond the grave for a place of happiness. No intelligent Jew could suppose that Canaan was all the rest which God had promised to his people.