Acts 7 · Verse 42

Acts 7:42

Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness?
Acts 7:42, King James Version

Acts 7:42 in other translations

BSBBut 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?
WEBBut God turned away and gave them up to serve the army of the sky, as it is written in the book of the prophets, ‘Did you offer to me slain animals and sacrifices forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?
ASVBut God turned, and gave them up to serve the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, Did ye offer unto me slain beasts and sacrifices Forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?
YLTand God did turn, and did give them up to do service to the host of the heaven, according as it hath been written in the scroll of the prophets: Slain beasts and sacrifices did ye offer to Me forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?
DARBYBut God turned and delivered them up to serve the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, Have ye offered me victims and sacrifices forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?
BBEBut God was turned from them and let them give worship to the stars of heaven, as it says in the book of the prophets, Did you make offerings to me of sheep and oxen for forty years in the waste land, O house of Israel?
WebsterThen God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices during forty years in the wilderness?

What does Acts 7:42 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Acts 7:42-50
42-50. gave them up--judicially. as ... written in the book of the prophets--the twelve minor prophets, reckoned as one: the passage is from Am 5:25. have ye offered to me ... sacrifices?--The answer is, Yes, but as if ye did it not; for "neither did ye offer to Me only, nor always, nor with a perfect and willing heart" [Bengel].

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Barnes' Notes
Verse 42. Then God turned. That is, turned away from them; abandoned them to their own desires.

The host of heaven. The stars, or heavenly bodies. The word host means armies. It is applied to the heavenly bodies, because they are very numerous, and appear to be marshalled or arrayed in military order. It is from this that God is called JEHOVAH of hosts, as being the Ruler of these well-arranged heavenly bodies, Isa 1:9. The proof that they did this, Stephen proceeds to allege by a quotation from the prophets.

In the book of the Prophets. Amos 5:25,26. The twelve minor prophets were commonly written in one volume, and were called the Book of the Prophets; the book containing these several prophecies, Daniel, Hosea, Micah, etc. They were small tracts separately, and were bound up together to preserve them from being lost. This passage is not quoted literally; it is evidently made from memory; and though in its main spirit it coincides with the passage in Amos, yet in some important respects it varies from it.

0 ye house of Israel. Ye people of Israel.

Have ye offered, etc.

That is, ye have not offered. The interrogative is often an emphatic way of saying that the thing had not been done. But it is certain that the Jews did offer sacrifices to God in the wilderness, though it is also certain that they did not do it with a pure and upright heart. They kept up the form of worship to idols. Through the continuous space of forty years they did not honour God, but often departed from him, and worshipped idols.

(p) "gave them up" Psa 81:12 (q) "host of heaven" De 4:19 (r) "as it is written" Amos 5:25,26 (*) "wilderness" or, "Desert"

Albert Barnes, 1834 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 42 Then God turned, and gave them up, etc. - He left them to themselves, and then they deified and worshipped the sun, moon, planets, and principal stars. In the book of the prophets - As this quotation is found in Amos, Amo 5:25, by the book of the prophets is meant the twelve minor prophets, which, in the ancient Jewish division of the sacred writings, formed only one book. Have ye offered to me slain beasts - It is certain that the Israelites did offer various sacrifices to God, while in the wilderness; and it is as certain that they scarcely ever did it with an upright heart. They were idolatrous, either in heart or act, in almost all their religious services; these were therefore so very imperfect that they were counted for nothing in the sight of God; for this seems to be strongly implied in the question here asked, Have ye offered to Me (exclusively and with an upright heart) slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years? On the contrary, these forty years were little else than a tissue of rebellion and idolatry.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Acts 7:42-50
Stephen upbraids the Jews with the idolatry of their fathers, to which God gave them up as a punishment for their early forsaking him. It was no dishonour, but an honour to God, that the tabernacle gave way to the temple; so it is now, that the earthly temple gives way to the spiritual one; and so it will be when, at last, the spiritual shall give way to the eternal one. The whole world is God's temple, in which he is every where present, and fills it with his glory; what occasion has he then for a temple to manifest himself in? And these things show his eternal power and Godhead. But as heaven is his throne, and the earth his footstool, so none of our services can profit Him who made all things. Next to the human nature of Christ, the broken and spiritual heart is his most valued temple.

Matthew Henry, 1706 · public domain

Acts 7:42 in the original Greek

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

ἔστρεψενestrepsenTurned awayG4762
δὲdehoweverG1161
ὁho<the>G3588
θεὸςtheosGodG2316
καὶkaiandG2532
παρέδωκενparedōkendeliveredG3860
αὐτοὺςautousthemG846
λατρεύεινlatreueinto worshipG3000
τῇtēatheG3588
στρατιᾷstratiahostG4756
τοῦtou<the>G3588
οὐρανοῦ,ouranouof heaven,G3772
καθὼςkathōseven asG2531
γέγραπταιgegraptaiit has been writtenG1125
ἐνenin [the]G1722
βίβλῳbiblōbookG976
τῶνtōnof theG3588
προφητῶν·prophētōnprophets:G4396
μὴmēNotG3361
σφάγιαsphagiaslain beastsG4968
καὶkaiandG2532
θυσίαςthusiassacrificesG2378
προσηνέγκατέprosēnegkatedid you offerG4374
μοιmoito MeG3165
ἔτηetēyearsG2094
τεσσεράκονταtesserakontafortyG5062
ἐνeninG1722
τῇtēatheG3588
ἐρήμῳ,erēmōwilderness,G2048
οἶκοςoikosO houseG3624
Ἰσραήλ;Israēlof Israel?G2474

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Acts 7:42

  • Amos 5:25-26

    Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel? But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves.

  • Ezekiel 20:39

    As for you, O house of Israel, thus saith the Lord God; Go ye, serve ye every one his idols, and hereafter also, if ye will not hearken unto me: but pollute ye my holy name no more with your gifts, and with your idols.

  • Jeremiah 19:13

    And the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, shall be defiled as the place of Tophet, because of all the houses upon whose roofs they have burned incense unto all the host of heaven, and have poured out drink offerings unto other gods.

  • Psalms 81:11-12

    But my people would not hearken to my voice; and Israel would none of me. So I gave them up unto their own hearts’ lust: and they walked in their own counsels.

  • Job 31:26-28

    If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness; And my heart hath been secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand: This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judge: for I should have denied the God that is above.

  • Romans 1:24-28

    Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. …

  • Isaiah 63:10

    But they rebelled, and vexed his holy Spirit: therefore he was turned to be their enemy, and he fought against them.

  • Deuteronomy 4:19

    And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the Lord thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven.

  • Hebrews 3:15-17

    While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness?

  • Joshua 24:20

    If ye forsake the Lord, and serve strange gods, then he will turn and do you hurt, and consume you, after that he hath done you good.

  • 2 Thessalonians 2:10-12

    And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

  • Isaiah 66:4

    I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears upon them; because when I called, none did answer; when I spake, they did not hear: but they did evil before mine eyes, and chose that in which I delighted not.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
and gave.
Ps 81:11,12; Isa 66:4; Eze 14:7-10; 20:25,39; Ho 4:17; Ro 1:24-28
2Th 2:10-12
the host.
De 4:19; 17:3; 2Ki 17:16; 21:3; Job 31:26-28; Jer 19:13; Eze 8:16
O ye.
Am 5:25,26
have ye.
Isa 43:23
of forty.
Ps 95:10; Heb 3:9,15-17

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Acts 7:41

    And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands.

  • Acts 7:42

    Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness?

  • Acts 7:43

    Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, figures which ye made to worship them: and I will carry you away beyond Babylon.

Read all of Acts 7

Acts 7:42 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Y Dios se apartó, y los entregó que sirviesen al ejército del cielo; como está escrito en el libro de los profetas: ¿Me ofrecisteis víctimas y sacrificios en el desierto por cuarenta años, casa de Israel?
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Et Dieu se retourna, et les livra au service de l’armée du ciel, ainsi qu’il est écrit au livre des prophètes: « M’avez-vous offert des bêtes égorgées et des sacrifices pendant 40 ans dans le désert, maison d’Israël?
German
Elberfelder 1871		Gott aber wandte sich ab und gab sie dahin, dem Heere des Himmels zu dienen, wie geschrieben steht im Buche der Propheten: "Habt ihr etwa mir vierzig Jahre in der Wüste Opfertiere und Schlachtopfer dargebracht, Haus Israel?
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Convertit autem Deus, et tradidit eos servire militiæ cæli, sicut scriptum est in libro prophetarum: Numquid victimas et hostias obtulistis mihi annis quadraginta in deserto, domus Israël?