< Acts 17 >
1 And having passed through Amphipolis, and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where the synagogue of the Jews was,
2 and according to the custom of Paul, he went in to them, and for three Sabbaths he was reasoning with them from the Writings,
3 opening and alleging that it was necessary [for] the Christ to suffer, and to rise again out of the dead, and that “this is the Christ—Jesus whom I proclaim to you.”
4 And certain of them believed, and attached themselves to Paul and to Silas, also a great multitude of the worshiping Greeks, also not a few of the principal women.
5 And the Jews, having been moved with envy, and having taken to themselves certain evil men of the agitators, and having made a crowd, were setting the city in an uproar; having also assailed the house of Jason, they were seeking them to bring [them] to the populace,
6 and having not found them, they drew Jason and certain brothers to the city rulers, calling aloud, “These, having put the world in commotion, are also present here,
7 whom Jason has received; and all these do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying another to be king—Jesus.”
8 And they troubled the multitude and the city rulers, hearing these things,
9 and having taken security from Jason and the rest, they let them go.
10 And the brothers immediately, through the night, sent forth both Paul and Silas to Berea, who having come, went into the synagogue of the Jews;
11 and these were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all readiness of mind, examining the Writings every day [to see] whether those things were so;
12 therefore, many of them, indeed, believed, and not a few of the honorable Greek women and men.
13 And when the Jews from Thessalonica knew that also in Berea was the word of God declared by Paul, they came there also, agitating the multitudes;
14 and then immediately the brothers sent forth Paul, to go on as it were to the sea, but both Silas and Timotheus were remaining there.
15 And those conducting Paul, brought him to Athens, and having received a command to Silas and Timotheus that with all speed they may come to him, they departed;
16 and Paul waiting for them in Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, beholding the city wholly given to idolatry,
17 therefore, indeed, he was reasoning in the synagogue with the Jews, and with the worshiping persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who met with him.
18 And certain of the Epicurean and of the Stoic philosophers, were meeting together to see him, and some were saying, “What would this seed picker wish to say?” And others, “He seems to be an announcer of strange demons”; because he proclaimed to them Jesus and the resurrection as good news,
19 having also taken him, they brought [him] to the Areopagus, saying, “Are we able to know what this new teaching [is] that is spoken by you,
20 for you bring certain strange things to our ears? We resolve, then, to know what these things would wish to be”;
21 and all Athenians, and the strangers sojourning, for nothing else were at leisure but to say something, and to hear some newer thing.
22 And Paul, having stood in the midst of the Areopagus, said, “Men, Athenians, in all things I perceive you as over-religious;
23 for passing through and contemplating your objects of worship, I also found an altar on which had been inscribed: To God—unknown; whom, therefore—not knowing—you worship, this One I announce to you.
24 God, who made the world, and all things in it, this One, being Lord of Heaven and of earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands,
25 neither is He served by the hands of men—needing anything, He giving life to all, and breath, and all things;
26 He also made every nation of man of one blood, to dwell on all the face of the earth—having ordained times before appointed, and the bounds of their dwellings—
27 to seek the LORD, if perhaps they felt after Him and found, though, indeed, He is not far from each one of us,
28 for in Him we live, and move, and are; as certain of your poets have also said: For we are also His offspring.
29 Being, therefore, offspring of God, we ought not to think the Godhead to be like to gold, or silver, or stone, [an] engraving of art and imagination of man;
30 therefore indeed God, having overlooked the times of ignorance, now commands all men everywhere to convert,
31 because He set a day in which He is about to judge the world in righteousness, by a Man whom He ordained, having given assurance to all, having raised Him out of the dead.”
32 And having heard of a resurrection of the dead, some, indeed, were mocking, but others said, “We will hear you again concerning this”;
33 and so Paul went forth from the midst of them,
34 and certain men having cleaved to him, believed, among whom [is] also Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman, by name Damaris, and others with them.
