This is what the Lord says: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Could you build me a temple as good as that? Could you build me such a resting place?
Parallel translations
- WEB Yahweh says, “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build to me? Where will I rest?
- KJV Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest?
- BSB This is what the LORD says: “Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool. What kind of house will you build for Me? Or where will My place of repose be?
- NKJV Thus says the Lord: “Heaven is My throne, And earth is My footstool. Where is the house that you will build Me? And where is the place of My rest?
- NASB This is what the Lord says: “Heaven is My throne and the earth is the footstool for My feet. Where then is a house you could build for Me? And where is a place that I may rest?
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 declares that heaven is his throne and earth his footstool, so no building can contain him. It matters because it humbles every attempt to confine or domesticate God.
Overview
As Isaiah closes, God rebuffs a presumptuous trust in the temple as if it housed him on human terms. Solomon himself confessed that the heavens cannot contain God (1 Kings 8:27), and Stephen quotes this verse against trusting in the temple over the living God (Acts 7:49). True worship rests not in a structure but in God, who in Christ dwells with the humble and contrite.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Acts 17:24The God who made the world and all things in it, he, being Lord of heaven and earth, doesn’t dwell in temples made with hands,
- Acts 7:48–50However, the Most High doesn’t dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says,
- Matt 5:34–35but I tell you, don’t swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is the throne of God;
- 1 Kgs 8:27But will God in very deed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens can’t contain you; how much less this house that I have built!
- Ps 132:7“We will go into his dwelling place. We will worship at his footstool.
- 2 Sam 7:5–7“Go and tell my servant David, ‘Yahweh says, “Should you build me a house for me to dwell in?
- John 4:20–21Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.”
- 1 Chr 28:2Then David the king stood up on his feet, and said, “Hear me, my brothers, and my people! As for me, it was in my heart to build a house of rest for the ark of Yahweh’s covenant, and for the footstool of our God; and I had prepared for the building.
- Matt 23:21–22He who swears by the temple, swears by it, and by him who was living in it.
- 2 Chr 6:18“But will God indeed dwell with men on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens can’t contain you; how much less this house which I have built!
- Jer 7:4–11Don’t trust in lying words, saying, ‘Yahweh’s temple, Yahweh’s temple, Yahweh’s temple, are these.’
- Ps 11:4Yahweh is in his holy temple. Yahweh is on his throne in heaven. His eyes observe. His eyes examine the children of men.
- Matt 24:2But he answered them, “You see all of these things, don’t you? Most certainly I tell you, there will not be left here one stone on another, that will not be thrown down.”
- Ps 99:9Exalt Yahweh, our God. Worship at his holy hill, for Yahweh, our God, is holy!
- Mal 1:11For from the rising of the sun even to the going down of the same, my name is great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering: for my name is great among the nations,” says Yahweh of Armies.
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Christ at the center
Isaiah sees him most clearly: the virgin's son Immanuel, the child on David's throne, the shoot from Jesse, the light to the nations, and above all the Suffering Servant pierced for our transgressions (ch. 53).
How Isaiah 66:1 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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