For here we do not have a permanent city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.
Parallel translations
- WEB For we don’t have here an enduring city, but we seek that which is to come.
- KJV For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come.
- NKJV For here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come.
- NASB For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come.
- NLT For this world is not our permanent home; we are looking forward to a home yet to come.
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
We have no permanent city here but look forward to the city that is to come. The believer's hope is set on the eternal, heavenly homeland, not earthly stability.
Overview
This verse explains why believers can leave the earthly 'camp' and bear reproach: their true home is not here. Echoing the pilgrim theme of chapter 11, the author points to the enduring city God has prepared (Hebrews 11:10, 16). This forward-looking hope frees Christians to follow Christ even through loss in this passing world.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Phil 3:20But our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,
- Col 3:1–3Therefore, since you have been raised with Christ, strive for the things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
- Heb 11:12–16And so from one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.
- Heb 12:22Instead, you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to myriads of angels
- 2 Pet 3:13–14But in keeping with God’s promise, we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.
- Eph 2:19Therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household,
- 2 Cor 4:17For our light and momentary affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory that is far beyond comparison.
- Heb 11:9–10By faith he dwelt in the promised land as a stranger in a foreign country. He lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise.
- Mic 2:10Arise and depart, for this is not your place of rest, because its defilement brings destruction—a grievous destruction!
- Heb 4:9There remains, then, a Sabbath rest for the people of God.
- 1 Pet 4:7The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear-minded and sober, so that you can pray.
- 1 Cor 7:29What I am saying, brothers, is that the time is short. From now on those who have wives should live as if they had none;
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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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 13:14 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.