Hebrews 11:13

'These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth' — the verse introduces the 'stranger and exile' motif that describes the pilgrim identity of all faith-heroes in Hebrews 11. The Greek 'xenoi kai parepidēmoi' (strangers and resident aliens) echoes Abraham's self-description in Genesis 23:4 and the sojourner status of the patriarchs in Canaan, generalizing their experience as a permanent paradigm for the community of faith. The theological claim that the patriarchs 'greeted' the promises from afar suggests that genuine faith involves orientation toward a future not yet empirically available, a principle Hebrews develops as the definition of faith in 11:1. The verse grounds the letter's paraenetic use of the heroes: their persistent orientation toward the unseen city (11:16) provides the pattern for a community tempted to abandon its costly confession.