What Does Hebrews 11:10 Mean?
For he waited for the city that has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.THE KEY
Your longing for a lasting home points toward a city whose foundations and making belong to God.
THE MEANING
Your present life can feel provisional while your hope reaches toward a home with foundations. Its stability rests in God’s own craftsmanship and making, so the deepest ground of belonging is something God establishes.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that you must build and secure your own permanent home for your life to have a firm foundation.
THE ROOT
ἐξεδέχετο
exedecheto
GROWS FROM
δέχ- (dech-), from δέχομαι (dechomai)
Receive, accept, welcome
“waited for” in this verse is exedecheto. The Greek ἐξεδέχετο (exedecheto) means “was awaiting” or “was expecting,” built on δέχομαι (dechomai), “to receive” or “welcome.” The word holds expectation and reception together: the city is awaited as a home to receive.
ALSO GROWS
dechomai: Receive, welcome
δέχομαι
This root gives the waiting an open, receptive quality.
prosdechomai: Await, expect, welcome
προσδέχομαι
This related word likewise joins waiting with receiving what is expected.
δημιουργός
dēmiourgos
GROWS FROM
ἐργ- (erg-), the stem of ἔργον (ergon)
Work, deed, activity
The Greek calls God both τεχνίτης (technitēs), “craftsman,” and δημιουργός (dēmiourgos), “maker”; the second word contains the work-element ἔργον (ergon). God is named as both skilled craftsman and active maker, with the city’s existence grounded in God’s work.
ALSO GROWS
ergon: Work, deed
ἔργον
The maker’s title carries this word for work, locating the city’s origin in God’s doing.
ergazomai: Work, produce
ἐργάζομαι
This verb makes the work-element active: the city is something God brings into being.
πόλιν
polin
GROWS FROM
πολι- (poli-), from πόλις (polis)
City as a civic community
The Greek πόλις (polis) is a city understood as an organized community, and its word-family also names the citizen and citizenship. The hoped-for city therefore carries shared life and belonging alongside its firm foundations.
ALSO GROWS
politēs: Citizen
πολίτης
The city is a place of belonging among people, not only a built location.
politeia: Citizenship, commonwealth
πολιτεία
This branch makes the city’s shared civic life part of the image.
THE PATTERN
Lasting dwelling takes its stability from God’s own building and preparation.
A Song of degrees for Solomon. Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders toil in emptiness. Unless the LORD guards the city, the watchman stays awake in emptiness.Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion a stone, a tested stone, a weighty cornerstone, a foundation set firm. The one who leans his weight will not hurry.And I, John, see the set-apart city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, made ready as a bride arranged for her husband.THE THREAD
But now they reach for a better homeland, the heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has made ready a city for them.Hebrews 11:16 names this city as a “better country” and says God has prepared it. The expectation in 11:10 opens into belonging: the city is a home God makes ready.
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