And indeed if they had been thinking of that country which they left, they would have had opportunity to return.
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.
- KJV And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned.
- BSB If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return.
- ESV If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, 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.
- NLT If they had longed for the country they came from, they could have gone back.
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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 24:6–8Abraham said to him, “Beware that you don’t bring my son there again.
- Gen 12:10There was a famine in the land. Abram went down into Egypt to live as a foreigner there, for the famine was severe in the land.
- Gen 11:31Terah took Abram his son, Lot the son of Haran, his son’s son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife. They went from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan. They came to Haran and lived there.
- Gen 32:9–11Jacob said, “God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, Yahweh, who said to me, ‘Return to your country, and to your relatives, and I will do you good,’
- Gen 31:18and he took away all his livestock, and all his possessions which he had gathered, including the livestock which he had gained in Paddan Aram, to go to Isaac his father, to 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.