1 Kings 8:27

8:27 “God does not really live on the earth! Look, if the sky and the highest heaven cannot contain you, how much less this temple I have built!

1 Kings 8:2

8:2 All the men of Israel assembled before King Solomon during the festival in the month Ethanim (the seventh month).

1 Kings 6:18

6:18 The inside of the temple was all cedar and was adorned with carvings of round ornaments and of flowers in bloom. Everything was cedar; no stones were visible.

Nehemiah 9:6

9:6 You alone are the LORD. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, along with all their multitude of stars, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You impart life to them all, and the multitudes of heaven worship you.

Psalms 115:16

115:16 The heavens belong to the Lord,

but the earth he has given to mankind.

Psalms 148:4

148:4 Praise him, O highest heaven,

and you waters above the sky!

Isaiah 66:1

66:1 This is what the Lord says:

“The heavens are my throne

and the earth is my footstool.

Where then is the house you will build for me?

Where is the place where I will rest?


tn Heb “Indeed, can God really live on the earth?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course not,” the force of which the translation above seeks to reflect.

sn The festival. This was the Feast of Tabernacles, see Lev 23:34.

sn The month Ethanim. This would be September-October in modern reckoning.

tn Heb “Cedar was inside the temple, carvings of gourds (i.e., gourd-shaped ornaments) and opened flowers; the whole was cedar, no stone was seen.”

tn Heb “the heavens of the heavens.”

tn Heb “all their host.”

tn Heb “the heavens [are] heavens to the Lord.”

tn Heb “to the sons of man.”

sn The “water” mentioned here corresponds to the “waters above” mentioned in Gen 1:7. See also Ps 104:3. For a discussion of the picture envisioned by the psalmist, see L. I. J. Stadelmann, The Hebrew Conception of the World, 47.