These all (i.e. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the nomadic patriarchs, not in-eluding the antediluvian heroes, to whom what is further said does not apply) died in faith (literally, according to faith, κατὰ πίστιν, as in Hebrews 11:7), not having received the promises, but having seen and greeted them from afar off (omitting the ill-supported καὶ πεισθέντες of the Textus Receptus), and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
The reference is to the confession of Abraham to the sons of Heth (Genesis 23:1-20. 4), "I am a stranger and a sojourner with yon," together with Jacob's words to Pharaoh (Genesis 47:9), "The days of the years of my pilgrimage," etc.
The import of such confession, intimated in the preceding part of the verse, is now educed.