Acts 17:24

Acts 17:24 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)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;
• New International Version (NIV)“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.
• English Standard Version (ESV)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 King James Version (NKJV)“God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands.

Context of Acts 17:24

22Paul stood in the middle of the Areopagus and said, “People of Athens! I see that you are extremely religious in every respect. 23For as I was passing through and observing the objects of your worship, I even found an altar on which was inscribed, ‘To an Unknown God.’ Therefore, what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it — he is Lord of heaven and earth — does not live in shrines made by hands. 25Neither is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives everyone life and breath and all things. 26From one man he has made every nationality to live over the whole earth and has determined their appointed times and the boundaries of where they live.

Acts 17:24 word by word

ὁ θεὸς ὁ ποιήσας τὸν κόσμον καὶ πάντα τὰ ἐν αὐτῷ, οὗτος οὐρανοῦ καὶ γῆς ὑπάρχων κύριος οὐκ ἐν χειροποιήτοις ναοῖς κατοικεῖ,Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• ·ὁho hē to · the/this/whoG3588
• Godθεόςtheos · GodG2316
• that madeποιέωpoieō · to do/make: doG4160
• the worldκόσμοςkosmos · worldG2889
• andκαίkai · andG2532
• all thingsπᾶςpas · allG3956
• ·ἐνen · in/on/amongG1722
• thereinαὐτόςautos · it/s/heG846
• seeing that heοὗτοςhoutos houtoi hautē hautai · this/he/she/itG3778
• isὑπάρχωhuparchō · be alreadyG5225
• Lordκύριοςkurios · lord: GodG2962
• of heavenοὐρανόςouranos · heavenG3772
• earthγῆgē · earth: planetG1093
• dwellethκατοικέωkatoikeō · to dwellG2730
• notοὐou · noG3756
• templesναόςnaos · templeG3485
• made with handsχειροποίητοςcheiropoiētos · hand-madeG5499

Cross-references for Acts 17:24

• Acts 17:26From one man he has made every nationality to live over the whole earth and has determined their appointed times and the boundaries of where they live.
• Acts 4:24When they heard this, they raised their voices together to God and said, “Master, you are the one who made the heaven, the earth, and the sea, and everything in them.
• Acts 14:15“People! Why are you doing these things? We are people also, just like you, and we are proclaiming good news to you, that you turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and everything in them.
• Psalms 146:5Happy is the one whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God,
• Isaiah 40:12Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand or marked off the heavens with the span of his hand? Who has gathered the dust of the earth in a measure or weighed the mountains on a balance and the hills on the scales?
• Isaiah 45:18For this is what the Lord says — the Creator of the heavens, the God who formed the earth and made it, the one who established it (he did not create it to be a wasteland, but formed it to be inhabited) — he says, “I am the Lord, and there is no other.
• Jeremiah 10:11You are to say this to them: “The gods that did not make the heavens and the earth will perish from the earth and from under these heavens.”
• Jeremiah 32:17Oh, Lord God! You yourself made the heavens and earth by your great power and with your outstretched arm. Nothing is too difficult for you!
• Zechariah 12:1A pronouncement: The word of the Lord concerning Israel. A declaration of the Lord, who stretched out the heavens, laid the foundation of the earth, and formed the spirit of man within him.
• John 1:1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
• Hebrews 1:2In these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son. God has appointed him heir of all things and made the universe through him.
• Hebrews 3:4Now every house is built by someone, but the one who built everything is God.
• Genesis 14:19He blessed him and said: Abram is blessed by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth,
• 2 Kings 19:15Then Hezekiah prayed before the Lord: Lord God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you are God — you alone — of all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the heavens and the earth.
• Psalms 24:1The earth and everything in it, the world and its inhabitants, belong to the Lord;
• Psalms 115:16The heavens are the Lord’s, but the earth he has given to the human race.

Commentaries on Acts 17:24

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 24God that made the world, etc. - Though the Epicureans held that the world was not made by God, but was the effect of a fortuitous concourse of atoms, yet this opinion was not popular; and the Stoics held the contrary: St. Paul assumes, as an acknowledged truth, that there was a God who made the world and all things. That this God could not be confined within temples made with hands, as he was the Lord or governor of heaven and earth. 3. That, by fair…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 24God that made the world - The main object of this discourse of Paul is to convince them of the folly of idolatry Acts 17:29, and thus to lead them to repentance. For this purpose he commences with a statement of the true doctrine respecting God as the Creator of all things. We may observe here: (1) That he speaks here of God as the Creator of the world, thus opposing indirectly their opinions that there were many gods. (2) he speaks of him as the Creator…Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 22-31Verses 22-31 Here we have a sermon to heathens, who worshipped false gods, and were without the true God in the world; and to them the scope of the discourse was different from what the apostle preached to the Jews. In the latter case, his business was to lead his hearers by prophecies and miracles to the knowledge of the Redeemer, and faith in him; in the former, it was to lead them, by the common works of providence, to know the Creator, and worship…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 22-31Paul’s sermon in Athens shows how well he could adapt his preaching of the good news (Romans 11:14; 1 Corinthians 9:19–23; 10:33; compare Acts 16:3; 17:2–3; 21:20–26). His Greek audience did not know the Scriptures or believe in one God like the Jews. However, they had a strong intellectual background. Paul connected with them using an Athenian inscription on an altar TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. He then explained God’s nature as the Creator (17:22–29), followed by…Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 24-2524-25. God that made the world and all ... therein--The most profound philosophers of Greece were unable to conceive any real distinction between God and the universe. Thick darkness, therefore, behooved to rest on all their religious conceptions. To dissipate this, the apostle sets out with a sharp statement of the fact of creation as the central principle of all true religion--not less needed now, against the transcendental idealism of our day. seeing…Read the comment

Topics related to Acts 17:24

• Athens
• Gentiles
• God
• God Continued...
• Paul
• Readings, Select
• Religion
• Worship
• Zeal, Religious

In the dictionaries

• God
• god, false god, goddess, idol, idolater, idolatrous, idolatry
• Appoint
• Areopagus
• Assurance
• Blood
• Determine
• Heaven
• Ignorantly
• James

Commentaries on Acts 17

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Illustrated New Testament
• Burkitt’s Expository Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Family Bible Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• The People’s New Testament
• Robertson’s Word Pictures
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• The Fourfold Gospel and Commentary on Acts
• Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings