Acts 7:43
What does Acts 7:43 mean?
A plain-English look at Acts 7:43 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What Acts 7:43 means
You took up the tabernacle of Moloch and the star of the god Rephan, images you made to worship; therefore I will carry you away beyond Babylon. Stephen continues the prophetic indictment: Israel bore idolatrous shrines alongside God’s, mixing worship and polluting devotion. Moloch and Rephan symbolize the false deities that captivated their hearts. The result is exile—God’s people carried away, losing the land they prized, because they prized idols more than God. Stephen’s message is sobering: trust in forms without faithfulness invites judgment. The council must grasp that revering the Temple means nothing if the heart is given to other gods; history proves it.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000And ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, And the star of the god Rephan, The figures which ye made to worship them: And I will carry you away beyond Babylon.
KJV
King James Version · 1611Yea, 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.
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901And ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, And the star of the god Rephan, The figures which ye made to worship them: And I will carry you away beyond Babylon.
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949And you took up the tent of Moloch and the star of the god Rephan, images which you made to give worship to them: and I will take you away, farther than Babylon.
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862and ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan--the figures that ye made to bow before them, and I will remove your dwelling beyond Babylon.
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752And you took unto you the tabernacle of Moloch and the star of your god Rempham, figures which you made to adore them. And I will carry you away beyond Babylon.
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890Yea, ye took up the tent of Moloch, and the star of [your]god Remphan, the forms which ye made to do homage to them; and I will transport you beyond Babylon.
Context
Completing the prophetic quotation begun in verse 42, Stephen points to specific idols and the judgment of exile. Next, verses 44–47 will recall the true tabernacle’s divine pattern and its presence among the fathers, leading to David’s desire and Solomon’s building of the house. The contrast is stark: God’s appointed dwelling versus idols. This prepares Stephen’s capstone claim in verses 48–50 that the Most High does not dwell in houses made with hands in any ultimate sense, as the prophets themselves declared.
v.42But 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?
v.43This passage
v.44Our fathers had the tabernacle of the testimony in the wilderness, even as he appointed who spake unto Moses, that he should make it according to the figure that he had seen.
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- 2 Kings 17:6
In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away unto Assyria, and placed them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.
- Deuteronomy 4:16
lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female,
- Leviticus 20:2
Moreover, thou shalt say to the children of Israel, Whosoever he be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel, that giveth of his seed unto Molech; he shall surely be put to death: the people of the land shall stone him with stones.
- Amos 5:26
Yea, ye have borne the tabernacle of your king and the shrine of your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves.
- Deuteronomy 5:8
Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image, nor any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
- Leviticus 18:21
And thou shalt not give any of thy seed to make them pass through the fire to Molech; neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am Jehovah.
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