Bible Strands
Acts 7:44
Our fathers had the tabernacle of the Testimony with them in the wilderness. It was constructed exactly as God had directed Moses, according to the pattern he had seen.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Stephen addresses the Sanhedrin during his trial, recounting Israel’s wilderness history to contrast ancestral obedience with their current idolatry. He notes that the patriarchs carried the sanctuary through the desert before Joshua led it into the Promised Land.
The words — The Greek σκηνὴ (skēnē) denotes the portable tent structure, while μαρτυρίου (marturiou) identifies it as the designated repository for the covenant tablets. These terms anchor the physical object to its specific function as a witness to God’s law.
The thread — The phrase "tabernacle of the Testimony" appears in Exodus 38:21, and the construction pattern is detailed in Exodus 25:40 and echoed in Hebrews 8:5. Stephen’s account traces the object’s movement from the wilderness through Joshua’s conquest to David’s reign.
Why it lands — The verse demands recognition that Israel’s ancestral worship followed precise divine instruction, unlike the current rebellion. It requires the reader to evaluate whether present spiritual practices adhere to established heavenly patterns or drift into human invention.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
Our 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.
Cross-references
- Exodus 25:40 See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.
- Exodus 38:21 This is the inventory for the tabernacle, the tabernacle of the Testimony, as recorded at Moses’ command by the Levites under the direction of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest.
- Hebrews 8:5 The place where they serve is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: “See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.”
- Exodus 25:8 And they are to make a sanctuary for Me, so that I may dwell among them.
- Exodus 26:30 So you are to set up the tabernacle according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.
- Numbers 1:50 Instead, you are to appoint the Levites over the tabernacle of the Testimony, all its furnishings, and everything in it. They shall carry the tabernacle and all its articles, care for it, and camp around it.
- Numbers 9:15 On the day that the tabernacle, the Tent of the Testimony, was set up, the cloud covered it and appeared like fire above the tabernacle from evening until morning.
- Numbers 10:11 On the twentieth day of the second month of the second year, the cloud was lifted from above the tabernacle of the Testimony,
- Numbers 17:7 Then Moses placed the staffs before the LORD in the Tent of the Testimony.
- Numbers 18:2 But bring with you also your brothers from the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, that they may join you and assist you and your sons before the Tent of the Testimony.