The chapter is filled with repetitions of the phrase “by faith.” But this can be misunderstood as: you die by faith—that is not what is meant here. The text teaches us that they all died “in faith.” That means that they were still believing at the moment they died although they had not seen the fulfillment of God’s promises in their lives (see for example Genesis 49:18).
13 These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.