11:13

In faith all of these died: That is, they maintained their faith until their death. By saying “all of these,” Paul refers to all those mentioned at Heb 11:4-12. He seems to focus particularly on Abraham, Sarah, and their offspring, who are mentioned at Heb 11:8-12, as well as in the verses that follow.

they saw them from a distance: Abraham and other faithful ones “of ancient times” did not see the complete fulfillment of God’s promises in their lifetime. (Heb 11:2) But with eyes of faith, they looked forward to a resurrection under God’s Kingdom and to the time when “all the families of the ground” would be blessed by means of the promised offspring.​—Ge 3:15; 22:18; 28:14; see also Joh 8:56 and study note; Heb 11:1.

welcomed them: Or “embraced them.” The Greek term for “welcomed” literally refers to greeting someone by words or by such gestures as embraces. (Mt 10:12; Lu 1:40; Ac 21:19; see also Lu 10:4 and study note.) Regarding the figurative use of the word in this verse, reference works state that it means “to express happiness about the arrival of someth[ing]” or “to anticipate with pleasure.” As one Bible scholar explained, the expression “here means a joyful greeting of those promises; or a pressing them to the heart, as we do a friend.”

publicly declared that they were strangers and temporary residents in the land: Paul may have had in mind the occasion when Abraham asked the sons of Heth for nothing more than a burial place for Sarah in Canaan, declaring that he was “a foreigner and settler among [them].” (Ge 23:2-4) When Abraham (Abram) together with his family entered the land of Canaan, they constantly moved their camp “from one place to another.” (Ge 12:9) Further, when Abraham came to a new place, he openly declared himself to be a worshipper of Jehovah and not of any local god. (Ge 12:8; 13:4, 18) In such ways, Abraham and his family “publicly declared” that they were temporary residents in the land.

in the land: That is, in the land of Canaan. Many Bible translations read “on the earth,” giving the impression that Abraham and Sarah were living on the earth temporarily while waiting to go to heaven. The Greek word used here can mean both “earth” and “land,” but the immediate context favors the rendering “land.” Paul uses the same Greek word at Heb 11:9, where he says that Abraham “lived as a foreigner in the land of the promise.” In that case, most Bible translations render this Greek word “land.” It is also worth noting that at Heb 11:8-16, Paul is not drawing a contrast between Abraham’s life as a foreigner on earth and a future life in heaven. Abraham knew nothing of such a hope for the future, which was not even hinted at until centuries later. (Da 7:13, 14, 18; compare study notes on 2Co 5:17; Ga 6:15.) Rather, Paul here draws a contrast between these two things: The life Abraham and his family left behind in Ur and the life they chose to lead in the land of Canaan. There his offspring would receive a precious inheritance, a foregleam of the “better place” that they awaited in fulfillment of God’s promise. (Heb 11:16 and study note; Ge 13:15; 15:7) Thus, the context strongly indicates that here in verse 13, Paul has in mind that Abraham was “a temporary settler in the land of Canaan,” as one reference work explains.