Acts 7:39-53
Acts 7:39-53
39 But our fathers refused to obey him. Instead, they rejected him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt.
40 They said to Aaron, ‘Make us gods who will go before us! As for this Moses who led us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him.’
41 At that time they made a calf and offered a sacrifice to the idol, rejoicing in the works of their hands.
42 But God turned away from them and gave them over to the worship of the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets:
‘Did you bring Me sacrifices and offerings
forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?
43 You have taken along the tabernacle of Molech
and the star of your god Rephan,
the idols you made to worship.
Therefore I will send you into exile
beyond Babylon.’
44 Our fathers had the tabernacle of the Testimony with them in the wilderness. It was constructed exactly as God had directed Moses, according to the pattern he had seen.
45 And our fathers who received it brought it in with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations God drove out before them. It remained until the time of David,
46 who found favor in the sight of God and asked to provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.
47 But it was Solomon who built the house for Him.
48 However, the Most High does not dwell in houses made by human hands. As the prophet says:
49 ‘Heaven is My throne
and the earth is My footstool.
What kind of house will you build for Me, says the Lord,
or where will My place of repose be?
50 Has not My hand made all these things?’
51 You stiff-necked people with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit, just as your fathers did.
52 Which of the prophets did your fathers fail to persecute? They even killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One. And now you are His betrayers and murderers—
53 you who received the law ordained by angels, yet have not kept it.”