hebrews-11:14,-hebrews-11:16-niv

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Hebrews 11:1-22

Examples of true faith (11:1-22)In the previous chapter the writer asserted that people must join faith to perseverance if they are to enjoy the thing hoped for. He now supports this statement with illustrations from the Old Testament. If people have faith, it means they believe that things hoped for according to God’s promises will be achieved and that unseen powers of God are real. Those with faith look beyond what they see. They know that they cannot explain the existence of the world solely... read more

E.W. Bullinger

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Hebrews 11:14

declare plainly . Greek. emphanizo. See Hebrews 9:24 . App-106 . country = a (true) home. Greek. patris . Only here and seven times in the Gospels. read more

James Burton Coffman

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - Hebrews 11:14

For they that say such things make it manifest that they are seeking after a country of their own.This verse shows that the status of being a pilgrim, or sojourner, is not something that was imputed to Abraham by his admirers of a later age, but that he said these things concerning himself, as in Genesis 23:4. It will also be remembered that when aged Jacob appeared before Pharaoh, he said, "The days of the years of my pilgrimage (sojournings) are a hundred and thirty years" (Genesis 47:9); and... read more

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Hebrews 11:14

Hebrews 11:14. Declare plainly that they seek a country.— This translation by no means comes up to the spirit and beauty of the original. The word πατριδα (derived from πατερ, a father,) does not signify a country in general, but such a country as a man's fatherdwells in, and possesses as rightfully his own; and wherein consequently his children have a right to dwell withhim. This their father's own country is opposed to a strange or foreign country, Heb 11:9 wherein they looked upon themselves... read more

Robert Jamieson; A. R. Fausset; David Brown

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Hebrews 11:14

14. For—proof that "faith" (Hebrews 11:13) was their actuating principle. declare plainly—make it plainly evident. seek—Greek, "seek after"; implying the direction towards which their desires ever tend. a country—rather as Greek, "a fatherland." In confessing themselves strangers here, they evidently imply that they regard not this as their home or fatherland, but seek after another and a better. read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Hebrews 11:8-22

2. Faith in the Patriarchal Era 11:8-22 read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Hebrews 11:13-16

"All these" probably refers to Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, and Jacob (Hebrews 11:8-9; Hebrews 11:11) who lived as exiled strangers by faith, not all whom the writer had listed to this point. "Strangers and exiles" is probably a hendiadys meaning "exiled strangers." Hebrews 11:13-16 interrupt the recital of Abraham’s acts of faith. Evidently the writer decided to preach a little at this point, the middle of his exposition of the patriarchs’ example. He emphasized the eschatological perspective that... read more

John Dummelow

John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible - Hebrews 11:1-40

Heroes of FaithThe Achievements of Faith, illustrated from the annals of Israel, beginning with the patriarchs and coming down to the martyrs. The writer has already mentioned faith as a necessary condition of a righteous life, and he now proceeds to illustrate the fact that it was by faith that the fathers of the race were able to work righteousness and to endure their trials. Their heroic example ought to encourage the Hebrews to stand fast. The primary purpose, therefore, of this long... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Hebrews 11:14

(14) Such things.—“I am a stranger and a sojourner with you” (Genesis 23:4). “The days of the years of my pilgrimage. . . . the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage” (Genesis 47:9).Declare plainly that they seek a country.—Rather, make it plain that they are seeking a home, or fatherland. read more

William Nicoll

Expositor's Dictionary of Texts - Hebrews 11:1-40

The Beginning of Faith Hebrews 11:1 As we hear these words we seem to penetrate down through all the differences and distinctions of outward forms and ceremonies to that which lies at the very root and foundation of religion the sense that beyond and behind the visible there is an invisible; that all that we see is but a reflection, a broken image of an unseen Divine ideal; that all around us and above us and within us there are mighty agencies ever working, regulating, creating, controlling... read more