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;
• 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.
• New Living Translation (NLT)“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,

Context of Acts 17:24

22Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. 23For 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. “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. 25And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. 26From 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.

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 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.
• Acts 4:24When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. “Sovereign Lord,” they said, “you made the heavens and the earth and the sea, and everything in them.
• Acts 14:15“Friends, why are you doing this? We too are only human, like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them.
• Psalms 146:5Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God.
• Isaiah 40:12Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens? Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on the scales and the hills in a balance?
• Isaiah 45:18For this is what the Lord says— he who created the heavens, he is God; he who fashioned and made the earth, he founded it; he did not create it to be empty, but formed it to be inhabited— he says: “I am the Lord, and there is no other.
• Jeremiah 10:11“Tell them this: ‘These gods, who did not make the heavens and the earth, will perish from the earth and from under the heavens.’ ”
• Jeremiah 32:17“Ah, Sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you.
• Zechariah 12:1A prophecy: The word of the Lord concerning Israel. The Lord, who stretches out the heavens, who lays the foundation of the earth, and who forms the human spirit within a person, declares:
• John 1:1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
• Hebrews 1:2but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe.
• Hebrews 3:4For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything.
• Genesis 14:19and he blessed Abram, saying, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth.
• 2 Kings 19:15And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord: “Lord, the God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.
• Psalms 24:1The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it;
• Psalms 115:16The highest heavens belong to the Lord, but the earth he has given to mankind.

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