007:042 So God turned from them and gave them up to the worship
of the Host of Heaven, as it is written in the Book of
the Prophets, "'Were they victims and sacrifices which you
offered Me, forty years in the Desert, O House of Israel?
007:043 Yes, you lifted up Moloch's tent and the Star of the God Rephan--
the images which you made in order to worship them;
and I will remove you beyond Babylon.'
007:044 "Our forefathers had the Tent of the Testimony in the Desert,
built as He who spoke to Moses had instructed him to make it
in imitation of the model which he had seen.
007:045 That Tent was bequeathed to the next generation of our forefathers.
Under Joshua they brought it with them when they were taking
possession of the land of the Gentile nations, whom God drove
out before them. So it continued till David's time.
007:046 David obtained favour with God, and asked leave to provide
a dwelling-place for the God of Jacob.
007:047 But it was Solomon who built a house for Him.
007:048 Yet the Most High does not dwell in buildings erected by men's hands.
But, as the Prophet declares,
007:049 "`The sky 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 resting place shall I have?
007:050 Did not My hand form this universe.'
007:051 "O stiff-necked men, uncircumcised in heart and ears,
you also are continually at strife with the Holy Spirit--
just as your forefathers were.
007:052 Which of the Prophets did not your forefathers persecute?
Yes, they killed those who announced beforehand the advent
of the righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you
have now become--