But it was Solomon who built the house for Him.
Parallel translations
- WEB But Solomon built him a house.
- KJV But Solomon built him an house.
- ESV But it was Solomon who built a house for him.
- NKJV But Solomon built Him a house.
- NASB But it was Solomon who built a house for Him.
- NLT But it was Solomon who actually built it.
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
It was Solomon, not David, who actually built the temple. The temple was a real gift, yet, as Stephen will say, it cannot contain God.
Overview
Stephen states simply that Solomon built the house for God (1 Kings 6). While the temple was God-ordained and glorious, Stephen is preparing to qualify any notion that God dwells there as if confined. The brevity here sharpens the contrast with the truth he states next.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- 1 Kgs 8:20Now the LORD has fulfilled the word that He spoke. I have succeeded my father David, and I sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised. I have built the house for the Name of the LORD, the God of Israel.
- 1 Kgs 6:37–38The foundation of the house of the LORD was laid in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign, in the month of Ziv.
- 2 Sam 7:13He will build a house for My Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.
- 1 Chr 17:1After David had settled into his palace, he said to Nathan the prophet, “Here I am, living in a house of cedar, while the ark of the covenant of the LORD is under a tent.”
- 1 Kgs 7:13–51Now King Solomon sent to bring Huram from Tyre.
- 2 Chr 2:1–4Now Solomon purposed to build a house for the Name of the LORD and a royal palace for himself.
- 2 Chr 3:1Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the LORD had appeared to his father David. This was the place that David had prepared on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
- 1 Kgs 5:1Now when Hiram king of Tyre heard that Solomon had been anointed king in his father’s place, he sent envoys to Solomon; for Hiram had always been a friend of David.
- Zech 6:12–13And you are to tell him that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘Here is a man whose name is the Branch, and He will branch out from His place and build the temple of the LORD.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Acts is the risen Christ continuing his work by the Spirit through the church, as the apostles preach that there is salvation in no other name under heaven.
How Acts 7:47 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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