Acts 17:29
New International Version
“Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill.

New Living Translation
And since this is true, we shouldn’t think of God as an idol designed by craftsmen from gold or silver or stone.

English Standard Version
Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man.

Berean Standard Bible
Therefore, being offspring of God, we should not think that the Divine Being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by man’s skill and imagination.

Berean Literal Bible
Therefore, being offspring of God, we ought not to consider the Divine Being to be like to gold or to silver or to stone, a graven thing of man's craft and imagination.

King James Bible
Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device.

New King James Version
Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising.

New American Standard Bible
Therefore, since we are the descendants of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by human skill and thought.

NASB 1995
“Being then the children of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man.

NASB 1977
“Being then the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man.

Legacy Standard Bible
Being then the offspring of God, we ought not to suppose that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the craft and thought of man.

Amplified Bible
So then, being God’s children, we should not think that the Divine Nature (deity) is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination or skill of man.

Christian Standard Bible
Since, then, we are God’s offspring, we shouldn’t think that the divine nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image fashioned by human art and imagination.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Being God’s offspring then, we shouldn’t think that the divine nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image fashioned by human art and imagination.”

American Standard Version
Being then the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and device of man.

Contemporary English Version
Since we are God's children, we must not think that he is like an idol made out of gold or silver or stone. He isn't like anything that humans have thought up and made.

English Revised Version
Being then the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and device of man.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
So if we are God's children, we shouldn't think that the divine being is like an image made from gold, silver, or stone, an image that is the product of human imagination and skill.

Good News Translation
Since we are God's children, we should not suppose that his nature is anything like an image of gold or silver or stone, shaped by human art and skill.

International Standard Version
So if we are God's children, we shouldn't think that the divine being is like gold, silver, or stone, or is an image carved by humans using their own imagination and skill.

Majority Standard Bible
Therefore, being offspring of God, we should not think that the Divine Being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by man?s skill and imagination.

NET Bible
So since we are God's offspring, we should not think the deity is like gold or silver or stone, an image made by human skill and imagination.

New Heart English Bible
Being then the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold, or silver, or stone, engraved by human art and design.

Webster's Bible Translation
Being then the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like to gold, or silver, or stone graven by art and man's device.

Weymouth New Testament
Since then we are God's offspring, we ought not to imagine that His nature resembles gold or silver or marble, or anything sculptured by the art and inventive faculty of man.

World English Bible
Being then the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold, or silver, or stone, engraved by art and design of man.
Literal Translations
Literal Standard Version
Being, therefore, offspring of God, we ought not to think the Godhead to be like to gold, or silver, or stone, [an] engraving of art and imagination of man;

Berean Literal Bible
Therefore, being offspring of God, we ought not to consider the Divine Being to be like to gold or to silver or to stone, a graven thing of man's craft and imagination.

Young's Literal Translation
'Being, therefore, offspring of God, we ought not to think the Godhead to be like to gold, or silver, or stone, graving of art and device of man;

Smith's Literal Translation
Being therefore the posterity of God, we ought not to think gold, or silver, or stone, an engraving of art, or meditation of man, the divinity to be like.
Catholic Translations
Douay-Rheims Bible
Being therefore the offspring of God, we must not suppose the divinity to be like unto gold, or silver, or stone, the graving of art, and device of man.

Catholic Public Domain Version
Therefore, since we are of the family of God, we must not consider gold or silver or precious stones, or the engravings of art and of the imagination of man, to be a representation of what is Divine.

New American Bible
Since therefore we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the divinity is like an image fashioned from gold, silver, or stone by human art and imagination.

New Revised Standard Version
Since we are God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the deity is like gold, or silver, or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of mortals.
Translations from Aramaic
Lamsa Bible
Now therefore, man, being of the family of God, is not bounden to worship resemblances made of gold or silver or stone shapen by the skill and knowledge of man into resemblances of the Deity.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
“Men, therefore, because our lineage is from God, we ought not to think that gold or silver or stone carved by the skill and knowledge of a man is like The Godhead.”
NT Translations
Anderson New Testament
Therefore, being the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhood is like gold, or silver, or stone, sculptured by art and the device of man.

Godbey New Testament
Then being the offspring of God, we ought not to think that divinity is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, the invention of art and the device of man.

Haweis New Testament
Being then the offspring of God, we ought not to imagine that the Divinity is like to gold, or silver, or stone sculptured by human art or contrivance.

Mace New Testament
since then we are the offspring of God, we should not imagine that the Deity bears any resemblance to the form which Gold, or Silver, or Stone has receiv'd from human art and industry.

Weymouth New Testament
Since then we are God's offspring, we ought not to imagine that His nature resembles gold or silver or marble, or anything sculptured by the art and inventive faculty of man.

Worrell New Testament
"Being, therefore, God's offspring, we ought not to suppose that the God-head is like gold, or silver, or stone, graven by man's art and device!

Worsley New Testament
Being then the offspring of God, we ought not to imagine that the Deity is like to gold, or silver, or stone, carved by the art and device of man.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Paul Before the Areopagus
28‘For in Him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are His offspring.’ 29Therefore, being offspring of God, we should not think that the Divine Being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by man’s skill and imagination. 30Although God overlooked the ignorance of earlier times, He now commands all people everywhere to repent.…

Cross References
Romans 1:20-23
For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood from His workmanship, so that men are without excuse. / For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking and darkened in their foolish hearts. / Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools, ...

Isaiah 40:18-20
To whom will you liken God? To what image will you compare Him? / To an idol that a craftsman casts and a metalworker overlays with gold and fits with silver chains? / One lacking such an offering chooses wood that will not rot. He seeks a skilled craftsman to set up an idol that will not topple.

Psalm 115:4-8
Their idols are silver and gold, made by the hands of men. / They have mouths, but cannot speak; they have eyes, but cannot see; / they have ears, but cannot hear; they have noses, but cannot smell; ...

Exodus 20:4-5
You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in the heavens above, on the earth below, or in the waters beneath. / You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on their children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,

Deuteronomy 4:15-19
So since you saw no form of any kind on the day the LORD spoke to you out of the fire at Horeb, be careful / that you do not act corruptly and make an idol for yourselves of any form or shape, whether in the likeness of a male or female, / of any beast that is on the earth or bird that flies in the air, ...

Isaiah 44:9-20
All makers of idols are nothing, and the things they treasure are worthless. Their witnesses fail to see or comprehend, so they are put to shame. / Who fashions a god or casts an idol which profits him nothing? / Behold, all his companions will be put to shame, for the craftsmen themselves are only human. Let them all assemble and take their stand; they will all be brought to terror and shame. ...

Jeremiah 10:3-5
For the customs of the peoples are worthless; they cut down a tree from the forest; it is shaped with a chisel by the hands of a craftsman. / They adorn it with silver and gold and fasten it with hammer and nails, so that it will not totter. / Like scarecrows in a cucumber patch, their idols cannot speak. They must be carried because they cannot walk. Do not fear them, for they can do no harm, and neither can they do any good.”

1 Corinthians 8:4-6
So about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world, and that there is no God but one. / For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many so-called gods and lords), / yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we exist. And there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we exist.

1 Corinthians 10:19-20
Am I suggesting, then, that food sacrificed to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything? / No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God. And I do not want you to be participants with demons.

Psalm 135:15-18
The idols of the nations are silver and gold, made by the hands of men. / They have mouths, but cannot speak; they have eyes, but cannot see; / they have ears, but cannot hear; nor is there breath in their mouths. ...

Isaiah 46:5-7
To whom will you liken Me or count Me equal? To whom will you compare Me, that we should be alike? / They pour out their bags of gold and weigh out silver on scales; they hire a goldsmith to fashion it into a god, so they can bow down and worship. / They lift it to their shoulder and carry it along; they set it in its place, and there it stands, not budging from that spot. They cry out to it, but it does not answer; it saves no one from his troubles.

Habakkuk 2:18-19
What use is an idol, that a craftsman should carve it—or an image, a teacher of lies? For its maker trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak. / Woe to him who says to wood, ‘Awake!’ or to silent stone, ‘Arise!’ Can it give guidance? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, yet there is no breath in it at all.”

1 Kings 8:27
But will God indeed dwell upon the earth? The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain You, much less this temple I have built.

John 4:24
God is Spirit, and His worshipers must worship Him in spirit and in truth.”


Treasury of Scripture

For as much then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like to gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device.

we ought.

Psalm 94:7-9
Yet they say, The LORD shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it

Psalm 106:20
Thus they changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass.

Psalm 115:4-8
Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands…

graven.

Exodus 20:4
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:

Exodus 32:4
And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

Isaiah 46:5,6
To whom will ye liken me, and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be like? …

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Deity Design Device Divine Engraved Forasmuch Form Formed Godhead God's Gold Graven Graving Image Imagination Imagine Inventive Marble Nature Offspring Ought Representation Resembles Right Sculptured Silver Skill Stone Think Thought
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Acts 17
1. Paul preaches at Thessalonica, where some believe,
5. and others persecute him.
10. He is sent to Berea, and preaches there.
13. Being persecuted by Jews from Thessalonica,
16. he comes to Athens, and disputes and preaches the living God, to them unknown;
32. whereby, though some mock, many are converted unto Christ.














Being then the offspring of God
This phrase establishes a foundational truth about human identity and origin. The Greek word for "offspring" is "genos," which implies kinship or lineage. In the context of Acts 17, Paul is addressing the Athenians, who were familiar with the concept of divine parentage through their mythology. However, Paul redirects this understanding to the one true God, emphasizing that all humanity shares a common origin in Him. This notion is deeply rooted in the biblical narrative, beginning with Genesis, where humanity is created in the image of God. It underscores the inherent dignity and value of every person, as being made by and related to the Creator.

we should not think
Here, Paul challenges the prevailing thought patterns of his audience. The Greek word "nomizo" suggests a customary belief or assumption. Paul is urging a shift from traditional or cultural assumptions to a truth-based understanding. This call to rethink is a common theme in Scripture, where believers are encouraged to renew their minds (Romans 12:2) and align their thoughts with God's truth. It is a reminder that faith often requires a transformation of our mental frameworks, moving away from human traditions to divine revelation.

that the Divine Being
The term "Divine Being" translates the Greek "to theion," which refers to the nature or essence of deity. In the context of Athens, a city filled with idols and altars to various gods, Paul is making a clear distinction between the true God and the man-made deities. This phrase invites reflection on the nature of God as transcendent, holy, and beyond human comprehension or representation. It calls believers to a higher understanding of God, one that is not confined to physical forms or human imagination.

is like gold or silver or stone
Paul uses these materials to represent the idols commonly worshiped in Athens. Gold, silver, and stone were often used to craft images of gods, reflecting human attempts to capture the divine in tangible forms. The Greek words "chrusos" (gold), "arguros" (silver), and "lithos" (stone) highlight the temporal and perishable nature of these materials. In contrast, the true God is eternal and unchanging. This comparison serves as a critique of idolatry, which reduces the infinite God to finite objects, and a call to worship God in spirit and truth.

an image formed by man's skill and imagination
The phrase underscores the futility of trying to encapsulate the divine through human creativity. The Greek word "techne" (skill) refers to craftsmanship or art, while "enthumesis" (imagination) suggests thought or design. Paul is pointing out that no matter how skilled or imaginative, human efforts cannot adequately represent God. This echoes the biblical prohibition against idolatry, as seen in the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:4-5). It challenges believers to recognize the limitations of human understanding and to seek a relationship with God that transcends physical representations.

(29) Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God.--One consequence from the thought of son-ship is pressed home at once. If we are God's offspring our conception of Him should mount upward from what is highest in ourselves, from our moral and spiritual nature, instead of passing downward to that which, being the creature of our hands, is below us. Substantially asserting the same truth, the tone of St. Paul in speaking of idolatry is very different from that which we find in the older prophets (1Kings 18:27; Psalm 135:15-18; Isaiah 44:9-20). He has, as it were, studied the genesis of idolatry, and instead of the burning language of scorn, and hatred, and derision, can speak of it, though not with tolerance, yet with pity, to those who are its victims.

The Godhead.--The Greek term is neuter, and corresponds to the half-abstract, half-concrete forms of the "Divine Being," the "Deity."

Gold, or silver, or stone.--The first word reminds us of the lavish use of gold in the colossal statue of Zeus by Phidias. Silver was less commonly used, but the shrines of Artemis at Ephesus (see Note on Acts 19:24) supply an instance of it. "Stone" was the term commonly applied to the marble of Pentelicus, which was so lavishly employed in the sculpture and architecture of Athens.

Verse 29. - Being then for forasmuch then as we are, A.V.; device of man for man's device, A.V. Graven by art, etc. In the Greek the substantive χαράγματα, graven images, things engraven, is in apposition with the gold, silver, and stone, and a further description of them. Art, τέχνη, is the manual skill, the device; ἐνθύμησις is the genius and mental power which plans the splendid temple, or exquisite sculpture, or the statue which is to receive the adoration of the idolater. Compare the withering sarcasm of Isaiah (Isaiah 44:9-17).

Parallel Commentaries ...


Greek
Therefore,
οὖν (oun)
Conjunction
Strong's 3767: Therefore, then. Apparently a primary word; certainly, or accordingly.

being
ὑπάρχοντες (hyparchontes)
Verb - Present Participle Active - Nominative Masculine Plural
Strong's 5225: To begin, am, exist, be in possession. From hupo and archomai; to begin under, i.e. Come into existence; expletively, to exist (verb).

offspring
γένος (genos)
Noun - Nominative Neuter Singular
Strong's 1085: Offspring, family, race, nation, kind. From ginomai; 'kin'.

of God,
Θεοῦ (Theou)
Noun - Genitive Masculine Singular
Strong's 2316: A deity, especially the supreme Divinity; figuratively, a magistrate; by Hebraism, very.

we should
ὀφείλομεν (opheilomen)
Verb - Present Indicative Active - 1st Person Plural
Strong's 3784: Or, its prolonged form opheileo probably from the base of ophelos; to owe; figuratively, to be under obligation; morally, to fail in duty.

not
οὐκ (ouk)
Adverb
Strong's 3756: No, not. Also ouk, and ouch a primary word; the absolute negative adverb; no or not.

think
νομίζειν (nomizein)
Verb - Present Infinitive Active
Strong's 3543: From nomos; properly, to do by law, i.e. To accustom; by extension, to deem or regard.

that the
τὸ (to)
Article - Accusative Neuter Singular
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

Divine Being
Θεῖον (Theion)
Adjective - Accusative Neuter Singular
Strong's 2304: Divine; subst: the Deity. From theos; godlike: - divine, godhead.

is
εἶναι (einai)
Verb - Present Infinitive Active
Strong's 1510: I am, exist. The first person singular present indicative; a prolonged form of a primary and defective verb; I exist.

like
ὅμοιον (homoion)
Adjective - Accusative Neuter Singular
Strong's 3664: Like, similar to, resembling, of equal rank. From the base of homou; similar.

gold
χρυσῷ (chrysō)
Noun - Dative Masculine Singular
Strong's 5557: Perhaps from the base of chraomai; gold; by extension, a golden article, as an ornament or coin.

or
(ē)
Conjunction
Strong's 2228: Or, than. A primary particle of distinction between two connected terms; disjunctive, or; comparative, than.

silver
ἀργύρῳ (argyrō)
Noun - Dative Masculine Singular
Strong's 696: Silver as a metal. From argos; silver.

or
(ē)
Conjunction
Strong's 2228: Or, than. A primary particle of distinction between two connected terms; disjunctive, or; comparative, than.

stone,
λίθῳ (lithō)
Noun - Dative Masculine Singular
Strong's 3037: A stone; met: of Jesus as the chief stone in a building. Apparently a primary word; a stone.

an image formed
χαράγματι (charagmati)
Noun - Dative Neuter Singular
Strong's 5480: Sculpture; engraving, a stamp, sign. From the same as charax; a scratch or etching, i.e. Stamp, or scupltured figure.

by man’s
ἀνθρώπου (anthrōpou)
Noun - Genitive Masculine Singular
Strong's 444: A man, one of the human race. From aner and ops; man-faced, i.e. A human being.

skill
τέχνης (technēs)
Noun - Genitive Feminine Singular
Strong's 5078: Art, skill, trade, craft. From the base of tikto; art, i.e., a trade, or skill.

and
καὶ (kai)
Conjunction
Strong's 2532: And, even, also, namely.

imagination.
ἐνθυμήσεως (enthymēseōs)
Noun - Genitive Feminine Singular
Strong's 1761: Inward thought, reflection, plur: thoughts. From enthumeomai; deliberation.


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