Acts 17:25

Acts 17:25 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;
• English Standard Version (ESV)nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.
• New King James Version (NKJV)Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things.
• New Living Translation (NLT)and human hands can’t serve his needs—for he has no needs. He himself gives life and breath to everything, and he satisfies every need.

Context of Acts 17:25

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. 24“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. And 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. 27God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.

Acts 17:25 word by word

οὐδὲ ὑπὸ χειρῶν ἀνθρωπίνων θεραπεύεται προσδεόμενός τινος, αὐτὸς διδοὺς πᾶσιν ζωὴν καὶ πνοὴν καὶ τὰ πάντα·Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• Neitherοὐδέoude · norG3761
• is worshippedθεραπεύωtherapeuō · to serve/healG2323
• withὑπόhupo · by/under: byG5259
• men’sἄνθρωποςanthrōpos · a humanG444
• handsχείρcheir · handG5495
• as though he neededπροσδέωprosdeomai · to needG4326
• any thingτιςtis · oneG5100
• seeing heαὐτόςautos · it/s/heG846
• givethδίδωμιdidōmi · to giveG1325
• to allπᾶςpas · allG3956
• lifeζωήzōē · lifeG2222
• andκαίkai · andG2532
• breathπνοήpnoē · wind/breathG4157
• all thingsὁho hē to · the/this/whoG3588

Cross-references for Acts 17:25

• Job 22:2“Can a man be of benefit to God? Can even a wise person benefit him?
• Job 35:6If you sin, how does that affect him? If your sins are many, what does that do to him?
• Psalms 16:2I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.”
• Psalms 50:8I bring no charges against you concerning your sacrifices or concerning your burnt offerings, which are ever before me.
• Jeremiah 7:20“ ‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: My anger and my wrath will be poured out on this place—on man and beast, on the trees of the field and on the crops of your land—and it will burn and not be quenched.
• Amos 5:21“I hate, I despise your religious festivals; your assemblies are a stench to me.
• Matthew 9:13But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
• Acts 17:28‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’
• Acts 14:17Yet he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy.”
• Genesis 2:7Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
• Numbers 16:22But Moses and Aaron fell facedown and cried out, “O God, the God who gives breath to all living things, will you be angry with the entire assembly when only one man sins?”
• Numbers 27:16“May the Lord, the God who gives breath to all living things, appoint someone over this community
• Job 12:10In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind.
• Job 27:3as long as I have life within me, the breath of God in my nostrils,
• Job 33:4The Spirit of God has made me; the breath of the Almighty gives me life.
• Job 34:14If it were his intention and he withdrew his spirit and breath,

Commentaries on Acts 17:25

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 25Neither is worshiped with men's hands - This is an indirect stroke against making of images, and offering of sacrifices: he is not worshipped with human hands, as if he needed any thing, or required to be represented under a particular form or attitude; nor has he required victims for his support; for it is impossible that he should need any thing who himself gives being, form, and life, to all creatures. Giveth - life, and breath, and all things - These…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 25Neither is worshipped with men‘s hands - The word here rendered “worshipped” ( ́ therapeuetai) denotes to “serve”; to wait upon; and then to render religious service or homage. There is reference here, undoubtedly, to a notion prevalent among the pagan, that the gods were fed or nourished by the offerings made to them. The idea is prevalent among the Hindus that the sacrifices which are made, and which are offered in the temples, are consumed by the gods…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 17:25

• Athens
• Breath
• Gentiles
• God
• Life
• Paul
• Readings, Select
• Religion
• Worship
• Zeal, Religious

In the dictionaries

• Appoint
• Areopagus
• Assurance
• Blood
• Determine
• Ignorantly
• James
• Manner
• Mars Hill
• Mind

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