Acts 17:24

24 “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands.

Acts 17:24 in Other Translations

King James Version (KJV)
24 God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;
English Standard Version (ESV)
24 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man,
New Living Translation (NLT)
24 “He is the God who made the world and everything in it. Since he is Lord of heaven and earth, he doesn’t live in man-made temples,
The Message Bible (MSG)
24 "The God who made the world and everything in it, this Master of sky and land, doesn't live in custom-made shrines
American Standard Version (ASV)
24 The God that made the world and all things therein, he, being Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;
GOD'S WORD Translation (GW)
24 The God who made the universe and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth. He doesn't live in shrines made by humans,
Holman Christian Standard Bible (CSB)
24 The God who made the world and everything in it-He is Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in shrines made by hands.
New International Reader's Version (NIRV)
24 "He is the God who made the world. He also made everything in it. He is the Lord of heaven and earth. He doesn't live in temples built by hands.

Acts 17:24 Meaning and Commentary

Acts 17:24

God that made the world, and all things therein
In this account of the divine Being, as the Creator of the world, and all things in it, as the apostle agrees with Moses, and the rest of the sacred Scriptures; so he condemns both the notion of the Epicurean philosophers, who denied that the world was made by God, but said that it owed its being to a fortuitous concourse of atoms; and the notion of the Peripatetics, or Aristotelians, who asserted the eternity of the world; and some of both sects were doubtless present.

Seeing that he is the Lord of heaven and earth;
as appears by his being the Creator of both; hence he supports them in their being, and governs all creatures in them by his providence.

Dwelleth not in temples made with hands;
such as were the idol temples at Athens; nor in any other edifices built by man, so as to be there fixed and limited; no, not in the temple at Jerusalem: but he dwells in temples that are not made with hands, as in the temple of Christ's human nature, in which the fulness of the Godhead dwells bodily, and in the hearts of his people, who are the temples of the Holy Ghost. This strikes at a notion of the Athenians, as if God was limited, and circumscribed, and included within the bounds of a shrine, or temple, though it is not at all contrary to his promises, or the hopes of his own people, of his presence in places appointed for divine worship, but is expressive of the infinity and immensity of God.

Acts 17:24 In-Context

22 Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious.
23 For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.
24 “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands.
25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.
26 From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands.

Cross References 3

  • 1. Isaiah 42:5; Acts 14:15
  • 2. Deuteronomy 10:14; Isaiah 66:1,2; Matthew 11:25
  • 3. 1 Kings 8:27; Acts 7:48
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