2 Chronicles 6:18

6:18 “God does not really live with humankind on the earth! ¹  Look, if the sky and the highest heaven cannot contain you, how much less this temple I have built!

2 Chronicles 6:1

6:1 Then Solomon said, “The Lord has said that he lives in thick darkness.

2 Chronicles 8:1

Building Projects and Commercial Efforts

8:1 After twenty years, during which Solomon built the Lord’s temple and his royal palace,

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?

Acts 7:48-49

7:48 Yet the Most High ²  does not live in houses made by human hands, ³  as the prophet says,

7:49 ‘Heaven is my throne,

and earth is the footstool for my feet.

What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord,

or what is my resting place? ⁴ 

[6:18]  ¹ tn Heb “Indeed, can God really live with mankind on the earth?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course not,” the force of which is reflected in the translation “God does not really live with mankind on the earth.”

[7:48]  ² sn The title the Most High points to God’s majesty (Heb 7:1; Luke 1:32, 35; Acts 16:7).

[7:48]  ³ sn The phrase made by human hands is negative in the NT: Mark 14:58; Acts 17:24; Eph 2:11; Heb 9:11, 24. It suggests “man-made” or “impermanent.” The rebuke is like parts of the Hebrew scripture where the rebuke is not of the temple, but for making too much of it (1 Kgs 8:27; Isa 57:15; 1 Chr 6:8; Jer 7:1-34).

[7:49]  ⁴ sn What kind…resting place? The rhetorical questions suggest mere human beings cannot build a house to contain God.