Acts 17:25

Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;

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Word by word — the Greek

Word	Greek	Strong’s	Meaning
Neither	οὐδὲ oude	G3761	not however · conjunction — negative
worshipped	θεραπεύεται therapeuetai	G2323	to wait upon menially · verb — present passive indicative, 3rd person singular
with	ὑπὸ hupo	G5259	under · preposition
men’s	ἄνθρωπος ánthrōpos	G444	from G3700 (ὀπτάνομαι))
hands	χειρῶν cheirōn	G5495	the hand (literally or figuratively (power) · noun — genitive plural feminine
needed	προσδεόμενός prosdeomenos	G4326	to require additionally · verb — present middle participle, nominative singular masculine
thing	τινος, tinos	G5100	some or any person or object · indefinite pronoun — genitive singular neuter
he	αὐτὸς autos	G846	the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — nominative singular masculine
giveth	διδοὺς didous	G1325	to give (used in a very wide application · verb — present active participle, nominative singular masculine
all	πᾶσιν pasin	G3956	all · adjective — dative plural masculine
life	ζωὴν zōēn	G2222	life (literally or figuratively) · noun — accusative singular feminine
and	καὶ kai	G2532	and · conjunction
breath	πνοὴν pnoēn	G4157	respiration · noun — accusative singular feminine
and	κατά katá	G2596	(prepositionally) down (in place or time)
things	πάντα· panta	G3956	all · adjective — accusative plural neuter

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Psalms 50:8-13 I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt offerings, to have been continually before me.
Genesis 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
Isaiah 42:5 Thus saith God the LORD, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of i…
Job 33:4 The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life.
Acts 17:28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.
Romans 11:35 Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?
Job 22:2 Can a man be profitable unto God, as he that is wise may be profitable unto himself?
Job 35:6-7 If thou sinnest, what doest thou against him? or if thy transgressions be multiplied, what doest thou unto him?

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Acts 17:22-31

We have here St. Paul's sermon at Athens. Divers sermons we have had, which the apostles preached to the Jews, or such Gentiles as had an acquaintance with and veneration for the Old Testament, and were worshippers of the true and living God; and all they had to do with them was to open and allege that Jesus is the Christ; but here we have a sermon to heathens, that worshipped false gods, and were without the true God in the world, and to them the scope of their discourse was quite different from what it was to the other. In the former case their business was to lead their hearers by prophecies and miracles to the knowledge of the Redeemer, and faith in him; in the latter it was to lead them…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Acts 17:25

Neither is worshipped with--ministered unto, served by men's hands, as though he needed anything--No less familiar as this thought also is to us, even from the earliest times of the Old Testament (Job 35:6, Job 35:8; Psa 16:2-3; Psa 50:12-14; Isa 40:14-18), it would pour a flood of light upon any candid heathen mind that heard it. seeing he--He Himself. giveth to all life, and breath, and all things--The Giver of all cannot surely be dependent for aught upon the receivers of all (Ch1 29:14). This is the culminating point of a pure Theism.

Adam Clarke on Acts 17:25

Neither is worshiped with men's hands - This is an indirect stroke against making of images, and offering of sacrifices: he is not worshipped with human hands, as if he needed any thing, or required to be represented under a particular form or attitude; nor has he required victims for his support; for it is impossible that he should need any thing who himself gives being, form, and life, to all creatures. Giveth - life, and breath, and all things - These words are elegantly introduced by St. Paul: God gives life, because he is the fountain of it: he gives breath, the faculty of breathing or respiration, by which this life is preserved; and though breathing or respiration, be the act of the a…

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The Church Fathers

"Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed anything" - do you observe how, little by little, he brings in the philosophy? how he ridicules the heathen error? "seeing it is He that giveth to all life, and breath, and all things."
— John Chrysostom, Homily on Acts 38

"Neither is worshipped by men's hands." How then was He worshipped by men's hands among the Jews? Not by hands, but by the understanding. "As though He needed anything:" since even those acts of worship He did not in this sort seek, "as having need. Shall I eat," saith He, "the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?" Neither is this enough - the having need of naught - which he has affirmed: for though this is Divine, yet a further attribute must be added. "Seeing it is He that giveth unto all, life and breath and all things." Two proofs of Godhead: Himself to have need of naught, and to supply all things to all men. Produce here Plato and all that he has philosophized about God, all that Epicurus has: and all is but trifling to this! "Giveth," he says, "life and breath." Lo, he makes Him the Creator of the soul also, not its begetter. See again how he overthrows the doctrine about matter.
— John Chrysostom, Homily on Acts 38

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Areopagus — The Latin form of the Greek word rendered “Mars’ hill.” But it denotes also the council or court of justice which met in the open air on the hill. It was a rocky height to the west of the Acropolis…
Mars Hill — The Areopagus or rocky hill in Athens, north-west of the Acropolis, where the Athenian supreme tribunal and court of morals was held. From some part of this hill Paul delivered the address recorded…
Paul — =Saul (q.v.) was born about the same time as our Lord. His circumcision-name was Saul, and probably the name Paul was also given to him in infancy “for use in the Gentile world,” as “Saul” would be…
Athens · A city of Greece — A city of Greece
Breath · Of life — Of life
Gentiles · UNCLASSIFIED SCIPTURES RELATING TO — UNCLASSIFIED SCIPTURES RELATING TO
Mars’ Hill · A hill in Athens — A hill in Athens
Religion · NATURAL — NATURAL

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Acts 17:25

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Acts 17:22-31

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Acts 17:25

Adam Clarke on Acts 17:25

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Acts 17:25

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Acts 17:22-31

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Acts 17:25

Adam Clarke on Acts 17:25

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Gill on Acts 17:25

John Calvin on Acts 17:22-25

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Acts 17:22-31