Acts 17:26

The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

From one man He made every nation of men, to inhabit the whole earth; and He determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their lands.

Parallel Translations

Easy-to-Read Version
God began by making one man, and from him he made all the different people who live everywhere in the world. He decided exactly when and where they would live.

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
and hath made of one bloud all nacions of men for to dwell on all the face of the erthe and hath assigned before how longe tyme and also the endes of their inhabitacion

Hebrew Names Version
He made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the surface of the eretz, having determined appointed seasons, and the bounds of their habitation,

International Standard Version
From one manFrom one blood">[fn] he made every nation of humanity to live all over the earth, fixing the seasons of the year and the boundaries they live in,Deuteronomy 32:8;">[xr]

New American Standard Bible
and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation,

New Century Version
God began by making one person, and from him came all the different people who live everywhere in the world. God decided exactly when and where they must live.

Update Bible Version
and he made of one every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, having determined [their] appointed seasons, and the bounds of their habitation;

Webster's Bible Translation
And hath made of one blood all nations of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;

English Standard Version
And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place,

World English Bible
He made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the surface of the earth, having determined appointed seasons, and the bounds of their habitation,

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
And he hath made of one the whole nation of men, to dwell on all the face of the earth, having determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation:

Weymouth's New Testament
He caused to spring from one forefather people of every race, for them to live on the whole surface of the earth, and marked out for them an appointed span of life and the boundaries of their homes;

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
and made of oon al the kinde of men to enhabite on al the face of the erthe, determynynge tymes ordeyned, and termes of the dwellynge of hem,

English Revised Version
and he made of one every nation of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed seasons, and the bounds of their habitation;

Contemporary English Version
From one person God made all nations who live on earth, and he decided when and where every nation would be.

Amplified Bible
"And He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their lands and territories.

American Standard Version
and he made of one every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed seasons, and the bounds of their habitation;

Bible in Basic English
And he has made of one blood all the nations of men living on all the face of the earth, ordering their times and the limits of their lands,

Complete Jewish Bible
"From one man he made every nation living on the entire surface of the earth, and he fixed the limits of their territories and the periods when they would flourish.

Darby Translation
and has made of one blood every nation of men to dwell upon the whole face of the earth, having determined ordained times and the boundaries of their dwelling,

Etheridge Translation
And of one blood hath he made the whole world of men to dwell upon the face of all the earth, and he hath distinguished the times by his decree, and set the limits of the dwelling of mankind,

Murdock Translation
And of one blood hath he made the whole world of men, that they might dwell on the face of all the earth: and he hath separated the seasons by his ordinance; and hath set bounds to the residence of men:

King James Version (1611)
And hath made of one blood all nations of men, for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation:

New Living Translation
From one man he created all the nations throughout the whole earth. He decided beforehand when they should rise and fall, and he determined their boundaries.

New Life Bible
He made from one blood all nations who live on the earth. He set the times and places where they should live.

New Revised Standard
From one ancestor he made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live,

Geneva Bible (1587)
And hath made of one blood all mankinde, to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath assigned the seasons which were ordeined before, and the boundes of their habitation,

George Lamsa Translation
And he has made of one blood all nations of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and he has appointed seasons by his command, and has set limits to the age of men;

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
he made also, of one, every nation of men to dwell upon all the face of the earth, - marking out fitting opportunities, and the bounds of their dwelling place,

Douay-Rheims Bible
And hath made of one, all mankind, to dwell upon the whole face of the earth, determining appointed times and the limits of their habitation.

Revised Standard Version
And he made from one every nation of men to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their habitation,

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And hath made of one blood all nations of men, for to dwell on all ye face of the earth, & hath determined the tymes before appoynted, and also the boundes of their habitation:

Good News Translation
From one human being he created all races of people and made them live throughout the whole earth. He himself fixed beforehand the exact times and the limits of the places where they would live.

Christian Standard Bible®
From one man he has made every nationality to live over the whole earth and has determined their appointed times and the boundaries of where they live.

King James Version
And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;

Lexham English Bible
And he made from one man every nation of humanity to live on all the face of the earth, determining their fixed times and the fixed boundaries of their habitation,

Literal Translation
And He made every nation of men of one blood, to live on all the face of the earth, ordaining fore-appointed seasons and boundaries of their dwelling,

Young's Literal Translation
He made also of one blood every nation of men, to dwell upon all the face of the earth -- having ordained times before appointed, and the bounds of their dwellings --

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
and hath made of one bloude all the generacion of men to dwell vpo all the face of ye earth: and hath assygned borders appoynted before, how longe and farre they shulde dwell,

Mace New Testament (1729)
he he has deduced all mankind from one parent, to inhabit the surface of the whole earth, having pre-establish'd the appointed periods, and the boundarys of their dominions:

New English Translation
From one man he made every nation of the human race to inhabit the entire earth, determining their set times and the fixed limits of the places where they would live,

New King James Version
And He has made from one blood [fn] every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings,

Simplified Cowboy Version
He started this world with one cowboy. It was through this cowboy that every ranch and every cowpoke who ever pushed a cow came to be. God decided the boundaries and how good the grass would be on each of them. He determined long ago when each would rise and fall.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation,

Legacy Standard Bible
and He made from one man every nation of mankind to inhabit all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation,

Contextual Overview

²²Then Paul stood up before the Areopagus and said, "Men of Athens, I see that in every way you are very religious. ²³For as I walked around and examined your objects of worship, I even found an altar with the inscription: To an unknown God. Therefore what you worship as something unknown, I now proclaim to you. ²⁴The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples made by human hands. ²⁵Nor is He served by human hands, as if He needed anything, because He Himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. ²⁶From one man He made every nation of men, to inhabit the whole earth; and He determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their lands.²⁷God intended that they would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us. ²⁸'For in Him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'We are His offspring.' ²⁹Therefore, being offspring of God, we should not think that the Divine Being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by man's skill and imagination. ³⁰Although God overlooked the ignorance of earlier times, He now commands all men everywhere to repent. ³¹For He has set a day when He will judge the world with justice by the Man He has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising Him from the dead."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

hath made: Genesis 3:20, Genesis 9:19, Malachi 2:10, Romans 5:12-19, 1 Corinthians 15:22, 1 Corinthians 15:47

hath determined: Acts 15:18, Deuteronomy 32:7, Deuteronomy 32:8, Job 14:5, Psalms 31:15, Isaiah 14:31, Isaiah 45:21, Daniel 11:27, Daniel 11:35, Hebrews 2:3

Reciprocal: Genesis 1:26 - in our Genesis 5:2 - their Genesis 9:5 - brother Genesis 10:25 - in Genesis 10:31 - General Genesis 10:32 - nations Genesis 11:6 - the people Genesis 11:9 - the face Genesis 19:7 - General Genesis 41:56 - the face Numbers 34:2 - is the land Deuteronomy 2:5 - because Deuteronomy 2:23 - the Caphtorims which came 1 Chronicles 4:41 - the habitations Job 24:1 - seeing Psalms 33:15 - fashioneth Psalms 74:17 - set Psalms 107:36 - a city Isaiah 34:17 - he hath cast Isaiah 41:4 - calling Isaiah 44:7 - since Daniel 11:29 - time Amos 3:2 - all Habakkuk 2:3 - the vision Habakkuk 3:6 - and measured Zechariah 14:7 - which Zechariah 14:17 - all Luke 3:38 - of God Luke 21:35 - dwell Acts 1:7 - It Acts 3:19 - when Acts 17:24 - that made Romans 11:36 - of him Titus 1:3 - in Hebrews 2:11 - all

Cross-References

Genesis 12:4
So Abram departed, as the LORD had directed him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran.

Genesis 17:3
Then Abram fell facedown, and God said to him,

Genesis 17:4
"As for Me, this is My covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations.

Psalms 119:60
I hurried without hesitating to keep Your commandments.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And hath made of one blood,.... That is, of one man's blood; the Vulgate Latin version reads, "of one"; and the Arabic version of De Dieu reads, "of one man"; of Adam, the first parent of all mankind, and who had the blood of all men in his veins: hence the Jews u say,

"the first man was דמו של עולם, "the blood of the world";''

and this by propagation has been derived from him, and communicated to all mankind. They also say w, that

"the reason why man was created alone (or there was but one man created) was, on account of families, that they might not be stirred up one against another;''

that is, strive and contend with one another about pre-eminence: and they add,

"that the righteous might not say we are the sons of the righteous, and ye are the sons of the wicked.''

And it is a certain truth that follows upon this, that no man has any reason to vaunt over another, and boast of his blood and family; and as little reason have any to have any dependence upon their being the children of believers, or to distinguish themselves from others, and reject them as the children of unbelievers, when all belong to one family, and are of one man's blood, whether Adam or Noah: of whom are

all nations of men, for to dwell on all the face of the earth; for from Adam sprung a race of men, which multiplied on the face of the earth, and peopled the world before the flood; these being destroyed by the flood, and Noah and his family saved, his descendants were scattered all over the earth, and repeopled it: and this is the original of all the nations of men, and of all the inhabitants of the earth; and stands opposed to the fabulous accounts of the Heathens, which the apostle might have in his view, that men at first grew up out of the earth, or after the flood were formed of stones, which Deucalion and Prometheus threw over their heads; and particularly the Athenians boasted that they sprung out of the earth, which Diogenes ridiculed as common with mice and worms. But the apostle ascribes all to one blood:

and hath determined the times before appointed; how long the world he has made shall continue; and the several distinct periods, ages, and generations, in which such and such men should live, such and such nations should exist, and such monarchies should be in being, as the Assyrian, Persian, Grecian, and Roman, and how long they should subsist; as also the several seasons of the year, as seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night; and which are so bounded, and kept so distinct in their revolutions, as not to interfere with, and encroach upon each other; and likewise the several years, months, and days of every man's life; see Job 7:1 to which may be added, the times of the law and Gospel; the time of Christ's birth and death; the time of the conversion of particular persons; and all their times of desertion, temptation, affliction, and comfort; the times of the church's sufferings, both under Rome Pagan and Rome Papal; of the holy city being trodden under foot, of the witnesses prophesying in sackcloth, and of their being killed, and their bodies lying unburied, and of their resurrection and ascension to heaven, Revelation 2:10

Revelation 11:12 the time of antichrist's reign and ruin, Revelation 13:5 and of Christ's personal coming, and the day of judgment, 1 Timothy 6:15 and of his reign on earth for a thousand years, Revelation 20:4. All these are appointed times, and determined by the Creator and Governor of the world:

and the bounds of their habitation; where men shall dwell, and how long they shall continue there the age or distinct period of time, in which every man was, or is to come into the world, is fixed and determined by God; nor can, nor does anyone come into the world sooner or later than that time; and also the particular country, city, town, and spot of ground where he shall dwell; and the term of time how long he shall dwell there, and then remove to another place, or be removed by death. And to this agrees the Ethiopic version, which renders the whole thus, "and hath appointed his times, and his years, how long they shall dwell"; see Deuteronomy 32:8 to which the apostle seems to refer.

u Caphtor, fol. 37. 2. w T. Hieros. Sanhedrin, fol. 22. 2.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And hath made of one blood - All the families of mankind are descended from one origin or stock. However different their complexion, features, or language, yet they are derived from a common parent. The word blood is often used to denote “race, stock, kindred.” This passage affirms that all the human family are descended from the same ancestor; and that, consequently, all the variety of complexion, etc., is to be traced to some other cause than that they were originally different races created. See Genesis 1:0; compare Malachi 2:10. The design of the apostle in this affirmation was probably to convince the Greeks that he regarded them all as brethren; that, although he was a Jew, yet he was not enslaved to any narrow notions or prejudices in reference to other people. It follows from the truth here stated that no one nation, and no individual, can claim any pre-eminence over others in virtue of birth or blood. All are in this respect equal; and the whole human family, however they may differ in complexion, customs, and laws, are to be regarded and treated as brethren. It follows, also, that no one part of the race has a right to enslave or oppress any other part, on account of difference of complexion. No one has a right because:

He finds his fellow guilty of a skin

Not colored like his own; and having power

T’ enforce the wrong, for such a worthy cause to

Doom and devote him as his lawful prey.

For to dwell ... - To cultivate and until the earth. This was the original command Genesis 1:28; and God, by his providence, has so ordered it that the descendants of one family have found their way to all lands, and have become adapted to the climate where he has placed them.

And hath determined - Greek: ὁρίσας horisas. Having fixed, or marked out a boundary. See the notes on Romans 1:4. The word is usually applied to a field. It means here that God “marked out,” or “designated in his purpose,” their future abodes.

The times before appointed - This evidently refers to the dispersion and migration of nations. And it means that God had, in his plan, fixed the times when each country should be settled, and the rise, the prosperity, and the fall of each nation. The different continents and islands have not, therefore, been settled by chance, but by a wise rule, and in accordance with God’s arrangement and design.

And the bounds of their habitation - Their limits and boundaries as a people. By customs, laws, inclinations, and habits he has fixed the boundaries of their habitations, and disposed them to dwell there. We may learn:

1. That the revolutions and changes of nations are under the direction of infinite wisdom;
2. That people should not be restless and dissatisfied with the place where God has located them;
3. That God has given sufficient limits to all, so that it is not needful to invade others; and,
4. That wars of conquest are evil.

God has given to people their places of abode, and we have no right to disturb those abodes, or to attempt to displace them in a violent manner. This strain of remark by the apostle was also opposed to all the notions of the Epicurean philosophers, and yet so obviously true and just that they could not gainsay or resist it.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Acts 17:26. Hath made of one blood — In AB, some others, with the Coptic, AEthiopic, Vulgate, Itala, Clement, and Bede, the word αιματος, blood, is omitted. He hath made of one (meaning Adam) all nations of men; but αιμα, blood, is often used by the best writers for race, stock, kindred: so Homer, Iliad, vi. ver. 211:

Ταυτης τοι γενεης τε και αἱματος ευχομαι ειναι.

I glory in being of that same race and blood.

So Virgil, AEn. viii. ver. 142, says;

Sic genus amborum scindit se SANGUINE ab uno.

Thus, from one stock, do both our stems divide.

See many examples of this form in Kypke. The Athenians had a foolish notion that they were self-produced, and were the aboriginals of mankind. Lucian ridicules this opinion, Αθηναιοι φασι τους πρωτους ανθρωπους εκ της Αττικης αναφυναι, καθαπερ τα λαχανα. The Athenians say that the first men sprung up in Attica, like radishes. Luc. Philo-pseud. 3.

To dwell on all the face of the earth — God in his wisdom produced the whole human race from one man; and, having in his providence scattered them over the face of the earth, by showing them that they sprang from one common source, has precluded all those contentious wars and bloodshed which would necessarily have taken place among the nations of the world, as each in its folly might have arrogated to itself a higher and more excellent origin than another.

And hath determined the times before appointed — Instead of προτεταγμενους καιρους, the times before appointed, ABDE, and more than forty others, with both the Syriac, all the Arabic, the Coptic, AEthiopic, MS. Slavonian, Vulgate, and Itala, read προστεταγμενους καιρους, the appointed times. The difference between the two words is this: προτασσειν signifies to place before others; but προστασσειν is to command, decree, appoint. The προστεταγμενοι καιροι, are the constituted or decreed times; that is, the times appointed by his providence, on which the several families should go to those countries where his wisdom designed they should dwell. See Genesis 10:5-32; and see Pearce and Rosenmuller.

And the bounds of their habitations — Every family being appointed to a particular place, that their posterity might possess it for the purposes for which infinite wisdom and goodness gave them their being, and the place of their abode. Every nation had its lot thus appointed by God, as truly as the Israelites had the land of Canaan. But the removal of the Jews from their own land shows that a people may forfeit their original inheritance, and thus the Canaanites have been supplanted by the Jews; the Jews by the Saracens; the Saracens by the Turks; the Greeks by the Romans; the Romans by the Goths and Vandals; and so of others. See the notes on Genesis 11:1-32.