¹³ All these died in faith [guided and sustained by it], without receiving the [tangible fulfillment of God’s] promises, only having seen (anticipated) them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.^{(A) 14} Now those who say such things make it clear that they are looking for a country of their own. ¹⁵ And if they had been thinking of that country from which they departed [as their true home], they would have had [a continuing] opportunity to return. ¹⁶ But the truth is that they were longing for a better country, that is, a heavenly one. For that reason God is not ashamed [of them or] to be called their God [even to be surnamed their God—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob]; for He has prepared a city for them.^(B)