< Acts 17 >
1 Nowe as they passed through Amphipolis, and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was a Synagogue of the Iewes.
2 And Paul, as his maner was, went in vnto them, and three Sabbath daies disputed with them by the Scriptures,
3 Opening, and alleadging that Christ must haue suffered, and risen againe from the dead: and this is Iesus Christ, whom, said he, I preach to you.
4 And some of them beleeued, and ioyned in companie with Paul and Silas: also of the Grecians that feared God a great multitude, and of the chiefe women not a fewe.
5 But the Iewes which beleeued not, mooued with enuie, tooke vnto them certaine vagabonds and wicked fellowes, and whe they had assembled the multitude, they made a tumult in the citie, and made assault against the house of Iason, and sought to bring them out to the people.
6 But when they found them not, they drew Iason and certaine brethren vnto the heads of the citie, crying, These are they which haue subuerted the state of the world, and here they are,
7 Whom Iason hath receiued, and these all doe against the decrees of Cesar, saying that there is another King, one Iesus.
8 Then they troubled the people, and the heads of the citie, when they heard these things.
9 Notwithstanding when they had receiued sufficient assurance of Iason and of the other, they let them goe.
10 And the brethren immediatly sent away Paul and Silas by night vnto Berea, which when they were come thither, entred into ye Synagogue of the Iewes.
11 These were also more noble men then they which were at Thessalonica, which receiued the woorde with all readinesse, and searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.
12 Therefore many of them beleeued, and of honest women, which were Grecians, and men not a fewe.
13 But when the Iewes of Thessalonica knewe, that the woord of God was also preached of Paul at Berea, they came thither also, and mooued the people.
14 But by and by the brethren sent away Paul to goe as it were to the sea: but Silas and Timotheus abode there still.
15 And they that did conduct Paul, brought him vnto Athens: and when they had receiued a commandement vnto Silas and Timotheus that they shoulde come to him at once, they departed.
16 Nowe while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirite was stirred in him, when hee sawe the citie subiect to idolatrie.
17 Therefore he disputed in the Synagogue with the Iewes, and with them that were religious, and in the market daily with whomesoeuer he met.
18 Then certaine Philosophers of the Epicures, and of the Stoickes, disputed with him, and some sayde, What will this babler say? Others sayde, He seemeth to be a setter forth of straunge gods (because hee preached vnto them Iesus, and the resurrection.)
19 And they tooke him, and brought him into Mars streete, saying, May we not know, what this newe doctrine, whereof thou speakest, is?
20 For thou bringest certaine strange thinges vnto our eares: we woulde knowe therefore, what these things meane.
21 For all the Athenians, and strangers which dwelt there, gaue them selues to nothing els, but either to tell, or to heare some newes.
22 Then Paul stoode in the mids of Mars streete, and sayde, Yee men of Athens, I perceiue that in all things yee are too superstitious.
23 For as I passed by, and behelde your deuotions, I founde an altar wherein was written, VNTO THE VNKNOWEN GOD. Whom ye then ignorantly worship, him shewe I vnto you.
24 God that made the world, and all things that are therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaue and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands,
25 Neither is worshipped with mens handes, as though he needed any thing, seeing hee giueth to all life and breath and all things,
26 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,
27 That they shoulde seeke the Lord, if so be they might haue groped after him, and founde him though doubtlesse he be not farre from euery one of vs.
28 For in him we liue, and mooue, and haue our being, as also certaine of your owne Poets haue sayd, for we are also his generation.
29 Forasmuch then, as we are the generation of God, we ought not to thinke that ye Godhead is like vnto gold, or siluer, or stone grauen by arte and the inuention of man.
30 And the time of this ignorance God regarded not: but nowe hee admonisheth all men euery where to repent,
31 Because hee hath appoynted a day in the which he wil iudge the world in righteousnes, by that man whome hee hath appoynted, whereof he hath giuen an assurance to all men, in that hee hath raised him from the dead.
32 Now when they heard of the resurrection from the dead, some mocked, and other sayde, We will heare thee againe of this thing.
33 And so Paul departed from among them.
34 Howbeit certaine men claue vnto Paul, and beleeued: among whome was also Denys Areopagita, and a woman named Damaris, and other with them.
