Acts 7:44-50

Context
7:44 Our ancestors¹ had the tabernacle² of testimony in the wilderness,³ just as God⁴ who spoke to Moses ordered him⁵ to make it according to the design he had seen. 7:45 Our⁶ ancestors⁷ received possession of it and brought it in with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations that God drove out before our ancestors,⁸ until the time⁹ of David. 7:46 He¹⁰ found favor¹¹ with¹² God and asked that he could¹³ find a dwelling place¹⁴ for the house¹⁵ of Jacob. 7:47 But Solomon built a house¹⁶ for him. 7:48 Yet the Most High¹⁷ does not live in houses made by human hands,¹⁸ 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?¹⁹

7:50 Did my hand²⁰ not make all these things?’²¹

[7:44] ¹tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”

[7:44] ²tn Or “tent.”

[7:44] ³tn Or “desert.”

[7:44] ⁴tn Grk “the one”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[7:44] ⁵tn The word “him” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context, but must be supplied for the modern English reader.

[7:45] ⁶tn Grk “And.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.

[7:45] ⁷tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”

[7:45] ⁸tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”

[7:45] ⁹tn Grk “In those days.”

[7:46] ¹⁰tn Grk “David, who” The relative pronoun was replaced by the pronoun “he” and a new sentence was begun in the translation at this point to improve the English style.

[7:46] ¹¹tn Or “grace.”

[7:46] ¹²tn Grk “before,” “in the presence of.”

[7:46] ¹³tn The words “that he could” are not in the Greek text, but are implied as the (understood) subject of the infinitive εὑρεῖν (Jeurein). This understands David’s request as asking that he might find the dwelling place. The other possibility would be to supply “that God” as the subject of the infinitive: “and asked that God find a dwelling place.” Unfortunately this problem is complicated by the extremely difficult problem with the Greek text in the following phrase (“house of Jacob” vs. “God of Jacob”).

[7:46] ¹⁴tn On this term see BDAG 929 s.v. σκήνωμα a (Ps 132:5).

[7:46] ¹⁵tc Some mss read θεῷ (qew, “God”) here, a variant much easier to understand in the context. The reading “God” is supported by א² A C E Ψ 33 1739 Ï lat sy co. The more difficult οἴκῳ (oikw, “house”) is supported by Ì⁷⁴ א* B D H 049 pc. Thus the second reading is preferred both externally because of better ms evidence and internally because it is hard to see how a copyist finding the reading “God” would change it to “house,” while it is easy to see how (given the LXX of Ps 132:5) a copyist might assimilate the reading and change “house” to “God.” However, some scholars think the reading “house” is so difficult as to be unacceptable. Others (like Lachmann and Hort) resorted to conjectural emendation at this point. Others (Ropes) sought an answer in an underlying Aramaic expression. Not everyone thinks the reading “house” is too difficult to be accepted as original (see Lake and Cadbury). A. F. J. Klijn, “Stephen’s Speech – Acts vii.2-53,” NTS 4 (1957): 25-31, compared the idea of a “house within the house of Israel” with the Manual of Discipline from Qumran, a possible parallel that seems to support the reading “house” as authentic. (For the more detailed discussion from which this note was derived, see TCGNT 308-9.)

[7:47] ¹⁶sn See 1 Kgs 8:1-21.

[7:48] ¹⁷sn The title the Most High points to God’s majesty (Heb 7:1; Luke 1:32, 35; Acts 16:7).

[7:48] ¹⁸sn 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] ¹⁹sn What kind…resting place? The rhetorical questions suggest mere human beings cannot build a house to contain God.

[7:50] ²⁰tn Or “Did I.” The phrase “my hand” is ultimately a metaphor for God himself.

[7:50] ²¹tn The question in Greek introduced with οὐχί (ouci) expects a positive reply.