Acts 4:24

4:24 When they heard this, they raised their voices to God with one mind ¹  and said, “Master of all, ²  you who made the heaven, the earth, ³  the sea, and everything that is in them,

Acts 7:49

7:49 ‘Heaven is my throne,

and earth is the footstool for my feet.

What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord,

or what is my resting place? ⁴ 

Acts 11:5

11:5 “I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision, ⁵  an object something like a large sheet descending, ⁶  being let down from heaven ⁷  by its four corners, and it came to me.

Acts 14:17

14:17 yet he did not leave himself without a witness by doing good, ⁸  by giving you rain from heaven ⁹  and fruitful seasons, satisfying you ¹⁰  with food and your hearts with joy.” ¹¹ 

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¹ sn With one mind. Compare Acts 1:14.

² tn Or “Lord of all.”

sn The use of the title Master of all (δεσπότης, despoths) emphasizes that there is a sovereign God who is directing what is taking place.

³ tn Grk “and the earth, and the sea,” but καί (kai) has not been translated before “the earth” and “the sea” since contemporary English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.

⁴ sn What kind…resting place? The rhetorical questions suggest mere human beings cannot build a house to contain God.

⁵ tn This term describes a supernatural vision and reflects a clear distinction from something imagined (BDAG 718 s.v. ὅραμα 1). Peter repeated the story virtually word for word through v. 13. The repetition with this degree of detail shows the event’s importance.

⁶ tn Or “coming down.”

⁷ tn Or “the sky” (the same Greek word means both “heaven” and “sky”).

⁸ tn The participle ἀγαθουργῶν (agaqourgwn) is regarded as indicating means here, parallel to the following participles διδούς (didou") and ἐμπιπλῶν (empiplwn). This is the easiest way to understand the Greek structure. Semantically, the first participle is a general statement, followed by two participles giving specific examples of doing good.

⁹ tn Or “from the sky” (the same Greek word means both “heaven” and “sky”).

¹⁰ tn Grk “satisfying [filling] your hearts with food and joy.” This is an idiomatic expression; it strikes the English reader as strange to speak of “filling one’s heart with food.” Thus the additional direct object “you” has been supplied, separating the two expressions somewhat: “satisfying you with food and your hearts with joy.”

¹¹ sn God’s general sovereignty and gracious care in the creation are the way Paul introduces the theme of the goodness of God. He was trying to establish monotheism here. It is an OT theme (Gen 8:22; Ps 4:7; 145:15-16; 147:8-9; Isa 25:6; Jer 5:24) which also appears in the NT (Luke 12:22-34).