OET interlinear ACTs 7:49

uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / quotemarks

ὁ οὐρανός μοι θρόνος, ἡ δὲ γῆ ὑποπόδιον τῶν ποδῶν μου

¬The heaven_‹is› ˱to˲_me /a/_throne the and /the/_earth_‹is› /a/_footstool ˱of˲_the feet ˱of˲_me

This is the beginning of a quotation from the prophet Isaiah, which continues through the end of verse 50. Even if your language does not customarily put one direct quotation inside another, it would be good to present this quotation from Isaiah as a direct quotation if possible, since God is addressing the Israelites directly in it. You may be able to indicate its beginning with an opening second-level quotation mark or with some other punctuation or convention that your language uses to indicate the start of a second-level quotation. You may also be able to use special formatting to set off the quotation, as ULT does.

Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor

ὁ οὐρανός μοι θρόνος, ἡ δὲ γῆ ὑποπόδιον τῶν ποδῶν μου

¬The heaven_‹is› ˱to˲_me /a/_throne the and /the/_earth_‹is› /a/_footstool ˱of˲_the feet ˱of˲_me

Speaking through Isaiah, God describes Heaven as his throne and the earth as his footstool. If your readers would not understand what these figures mean, you could use equivalent metaphors from your culture, or you could express the meaning in a non-figurative way. This could mean: (1) that God is present both in heaven and on earth. Alternate translation: “I dwell in heaven, and I am also present throughout the earth” (2) that God rules over heaven and earth. Alternative translation: “I rule from heaven, and I have complete authority over the earth”

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / merism

ὁ οὐρανός μοι θρόνος, ἡ δὲ γῆ ὑποπόδιον τῶν ποδῶν μου

¬The heaven_‹is› ˱to˲_me /a/_throne the and /the/_earth_‹is› /a/_footstool ˱of˲_the feet ˱of˲_me

God is using the two parts of creation, Heaven and earth, to mean all of creation. If it would be helpful in your language, you could use an equivalent expression or plain language. This could mean: (1) Alternate translation: “I am present everywhere in creation” (2) Alternate translation: “I rule over all of creation”

Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / rquestion

ποῖον οἶκον οἰκοδομήσετέ μοι? λέγει Κύριος, ἢ τίς τόπος τῆς καταπαύσεώς μου?

what house ˱you_all˲_/will_be/_building ˱for˲_me /is/_saying /the/_Lord or what place_‹is› ˱of˲_the rest ˱of˲_me

God is using the question form to emphasize that human beings cannot build a temple worthy of him or adequate for him. If you would not use a rhetorical question for this purpose in your language, you could translate these words as a statement or an exclamation and communicate the emphasis in another way. Alternate translation: “You can not build a temple that is worthy of me or a place to live that is adequate for me!”

Note 5 topic: figures-of-speech / parallelism

ποῖον οἶκον οἰκοδομήσετέ μοι? λέγει Κύριος, ἢ τίς τόπος τῆς καταπαύσεώς μου?

what house ˱you_all˲_/will_be/_building ˱for˲_me /is/_saying /the/_Lord or what place_‹is› ˱of˲_the rest ˱of˲_me

These two phrases mean basically the same thing. God says the same thing twice, in slightly different ways, to emphasize the truth of what he is saying. If saying the same thing twice might be confusing for your readers, you could combine the phrases into one. Alternate translation: “You can not build a temple that is worthy for me to live in!”

Note 6 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor

ποῖον οἶκον

what house

The word house means a “temple.” Alternate translation: “What kind of temple”

Note 7 topic: figures-of-speech / abstractnouns

τόπος τῆς καταπαύσεώς μου

place_‹is› ˱of˲_the rest ˱of˲_me

If your language does not use an abstract noun for the idea of rest, you could express the same idea in another way. Alternate translation: “the place where I can live”