But Solomon built Him a house.
Parallel translations
- WEB But Solomon built him a house.
- KJV But Solomon built him an house.
- BSB But it was Solomon who built the house for Him.
- NASB But it was Solomon who built a house for Him.
- NLT But it was Solomon who actually built it.
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 8:20Yahweh has established his word that he spoke; for I have risen up in the place of David my father, and I sit on the throne of Israel, as Yahweh promised, and have built the house for the name of Yahweh, the God of Israel.
- 1 Kgs 6:37–38The foundation of Yahweh’s house was laid in the fourth year, in the month Ziv.
- 2 Sam 7:13He will build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.
- 1 Chr 17:1When David lived in his house, David said to Nathan the prophet, “Behold, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of Yahweh’s covenant is in a tent.”
- 1 Kgs 7:13–51King Solomon sent and brought Hiram out of Tyre.
- 2 Chr 2:1–4Now Solomon decided to build a house for Yahweh’s name, and a house for his kingdom.
- 2 Chr 3:1Then Solomon began to build Yahweh’s house at Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where Yahweh appeared to David his father, which he prepared in the place that David had appointed, on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
- 1 Kgs 5:1Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon; for he had heard that they had anointed him king in the place of his father, and Hiram had always loved David.
- Zech 6:12–13and speak to him, saying, ‘Yahweh of Armies says, “Behold, the man whose name is the Branch: and he shall grow up out of his place; and he shall build Yahweh’s temple;
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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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