Hath not my hand made all these things?
Parallel translations
- WEB Didn’t my hand make all these things?’
- BSB Has not My hand made all these things?’
- NKJV Has My hand not made all these things?’
- NASB ‘Was it not My hand that made all these things?’
- NLT Didn’t my hands make both heaven and earth?’
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
God reminds them that His own hand made all things. The Creator owns and transcends everything, so He needs no house from man.
Overview
Stephen completes the Isaiah quotation: God made all things (Isaiah 66:2). Since everything is His handiwork, no human construction can add to or contain Him. This caps his argument that true worship is not bound to the temple but offered to the God who made and rules all.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Jer 32:17Ah Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee:
- Isa 66:2For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.
- Ps 33:6–9By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.
- Exod 20:11For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
- Isa 40:28Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.
- Ps 146:5–6Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD his God:
- Isa 45:12I have made the earth, and created man upon it: I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded.
- Acts 14:15And saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein:
- Jer 10:11Thus shall ye say unto them, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens.
- Isa 45:7–8I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.
- Ps 50:9–12I will take no bullock out of thy house, nor he goats out of thy folds.
- Isa 44:24Thus saith the LORD, thy redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb, I am the LORD that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself;
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 7:50 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.