And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned.
Parallel translations
- WEB If indeed they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had enough time to return.
- BSB If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return.
- NKJV And truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return.
- NASB And indeed if they had been thinking of that country which they left, they would have had opportunity to return.
- NLT If they had longed for the country they came from, they could have gone back.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Had the patriarchs longed for the country they left behind, they had ample opportunity to return. Their refusal to go back shows they sought something better.
Overview
This verse anticipates an objection: the homeland they desired was not Mesopotamia, the land of their origin, for they could easily have returned there. Their lack of any wish to go back demonstrates that their hope lay in a different and higher country. Faith does not look back to what was forsaken but forward to God's promised future, fully opened in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- Gen 24:6–8And Abraham said unto him, Beware thou that thou bring not my son thither again.
- Gen 12:10And there was a famine in the land: and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there; for the famine was grievous in the land.
- Gen 11:31And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son’s son, and Sarai his daughter in law, his son Abram’s wife; and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there.
- Gen 32:9–11And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the LORD which saidst unto me, Return unto thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee:
- Gen 31:18And he carried away all his cattle, and all his goods which he had gotten, the cattle of his getting, which he had gotten in Padanaram, for to go to Isaac his father in the land of Canaan.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Hebrews is sustained worship of Christ: better than angels, Moses, and the priests; the great High Priest after Melchizedek who by one sacrifice perfects forever those he saves.
How Hebrews 11:15 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.