Acts 7:44
What does Acts 7:44 mean?
A plain-English look at Acts 7:44 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What Acts 7:44 means
Our fathers had the tabernacle of the testimony in the wilderness, made according to the pattern God showed Moses. Stephen honors the God-given tent where God met with His people and testified to His covenant. The emphasis on the divinely revealed pattern distinguishes it from humanly devised idols. The tabernacle was mobile, accompanying Israel, signaling God’s presence with His pilgrim people. Stephen is not against sacred space; he affirms it when it flows from God’s command. Yet even this holy tent points to a God who moves with His people and cannot be domesticated. It is a gift for the journey, not a prison for the Almighty.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000Our 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.
KJV
King James Version · 1611Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as he had appointed, speaking unto Moses, that he should make it according to the fashion that he had seen.
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901Our 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.
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949Our fathers had the Tent of witness in the waste land, as God gave orders to Moses to make it after the design which he had seen.
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862`The tabernacle of the testimony was among our fathers in the wilderness, according as He did direct, who is speaking to Moses, to make it according to the figure that he had seen;
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752The tabernacle of the testimony was with our fathers in the desert, as God ordained for them, speaking to Moses, that he should make it according to the form which he had seen.
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890Our fathers had the tent of the testimony in the wilderness, as he that spoke to Moses commanded to make it according to the model which he had seen;
Context
After exposing idolatry, Stephen reminds the council of the legitimate, God-ordained tabernacle. Verse 45 will note its transport into the land under Joshua and its duration until David. Verses 46–47 will mention David’s favor and Solomon’s building of the house. This trajectory affirms Israel’s sacred institutions while quietly preserving Stephen’s theme: God’s presence is with His people in motion, by His design, not confined to any one structure.
v.43And 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.
v.44This passage
v.45Which also our fathers, in their turn, brought in with Joshua when they entered on the possession of the nations, that God thrust out before the face of our fathers, unto the days of David;
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Joshua 18:1
And the whole congregation of the children of Israel assembled themselves together at Shiloh, and set up the tent of meeting there: and the land was subdued before them.
- 1 Chronicles 28:11
Then David gave to Solomon his son the pattern of the porchof the temple, and of the houses thereof, and of the treasuries thereof, and of the upper rooms thereof, and of the inner chambers thereof, and of the place of the mercy-seat;
- Exodus 26:30
And thou shalt rear up the tabernacle according to the fashion thereof which hath been showed thee in the mount.
- 2 Chronicles 24:6
And the king called for Jehoiada the chief, and said unto him, Why hast thou not required of the Levites to bring in out of Judah and out of Jerusalem the tax of Moses the servant of Jehovah, and of the assembly of Israel, for the tent of the testimony?
- Numbers 17:7
And Moses laid up the rods before Jehovah in the tent of the testimony.
- Hebrews 8:2
a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man.
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