---
title: Hebrews 11:13
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/hebrews-11-13/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/hebrews-11-13.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: Hebrews 11:13
testament: NT
section: Letters
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# Hebrews 11:13

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> All these people died in faith, without having received the things they were promised. However, they saw them and welcomed them from afar. And they acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.

## JW Usage

Hebrews 11:13 — the faithful ones "did not receive the fulfilment of the promises, but they saw them from a distance and welcomed them" (NWT) — is generally cited by JWs as a commendation of enduring patience. The Watchtower's own history with failed date- specific predictions (1914 as the end, 1925 for the return of the patriarchs, 1975 for Armageddon) creates an uncomfortable proximity to this verse that is rarely dwelt on in teaching.

## Protestant Usage

Hebrews 11:13 is the decisive counter-text for the Watchtower's history of prophetic date-setting. The heroes of faith named in chapter 11 "did not receive the fulfilment of the promises" in their lifetimes — they trusted God's timing and died in hope. Judge Rutherford's 1920 booklet Millions Now Living Will Never Die confidently expected Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob back in 1925, and the Watchtower built Beth Sarim (the San Diego mansion at 4440 Braeburn Road) to house them. The patriarchs never came. Hebrews 11:13 had already ruled the logic out: the promise- bearers saw from a distance, did not receive, and confessed themselves strangers. Pair with Acts 1:7 ("it does not belong to you to know the times or the seasons") and Deuteronomy 18:20-22 (the false-prophet test) for the full diagnostic.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [Beth Sarim — 1925 Failed Prophecy and the Rutherford Mansion](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/beth-sarim-1925-prophecy.md) — Deuteronomy 18:20-22 / Hebrews 11:13 / Acts 1:7 [Authority]