Acts 17
1 Paul and Silas traveled through Amphipolis and Apollonia [towns] and arrived at Thessalonica [city]. There was a Jewish meeting place there.
Then, passing through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they went to Thessalonica. Here there was a synagogue of the Jews.
2 (On the Sabbath/On the Jewish rest day) Paul went into the meeting house, as he usually did. For three weeks [he went there] on each Jewish day of rest. Referring to the Scriptures [about the Messiah], he spoke to the people who were there.
Paul--following his usual custom--betook himself to it, and for three successive Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures,
3 He explained and showed that [the prophets wrote that] the Messiah needed to die and (to become alive again/to be raised from the dead [afterwards]). He told them: “This man Jesus, whom I am telling you about, is our Messiah. [He died and became alive again, just like the prophets predicted].”
which he clearly explained, pointing out that it had been necessary for the Christ to suffer and rise again from the dead, and insisting, "The Jesus whom I am announcing to you is the Christ."
4 Some of the Jews [there] were persuaded by {believed} [what Paul had said] and began to associate with Paul and Silas. There were also many non-Jewish people there who worshipped God and many important women [who also believed the message about Jesus], and they began to associate with Paul and Silas.
Some of the people were won over, and attached themselves to Paul and Silas, including many God-fearing Greeks and not a few gentlewomen of high rank.
5 But [some leaders of] the Jews there in Thessalonica became jealous [because many people believed what Paul taught]. So they went to the public square and persuaded some lazy men [who were loitering there] to follow them. [In this way, the leaders of] the Jews gathered a crowd and incited them to become noisy and start a riot [against Paul and Silas]. Those [Jews and others] ran to the house of [a man named] Jason. [He was the man who had invited Paul and Silas to stay at his house]. They wanted to bring Paul and Silas outside to where the crowd [of people was waiting].
But the jealousy of the Jews was aroused, and, calling to their aid some ill-conditioned and idle fellows, they got together a riotous mob and filled the city with uproar. They then attacked the house of Jason and searched for Paul and Silas, to bring them out before the assembly of people.
6 They discovered that Paul and Silas were not there, but they found Jason [and grabbed him]. They dragged him and some of the [other] believers to where the city officials/authorities and [many other people were gathered]. The men [who had brought Jason] shouted, “Those [two] men have caused trouble [IDM] everywhere [HYP] [they have gone]. Now they have come to our city,
But, failing to find them, they dragged Jason and some of the other brethren before the magistrates of the city, loudly accusing them. "These men," they said, "who have raised a tumult throughout the Empire, have come here also.
7 and [this fellow] Jason invited them to stay at his house. All the people [of this sect] oppose what our Emperor has decreed. They say that another person, whose name is Jesus, is [the real] king!”
Jason has received them into his house; and they all set Caesar's authority at defiance, declaring that there is another Emperor-- one called Jesus."
8 When the crowd of people [that had gathered] and the city authorities heard that, they became very angry and excited.
Great was the excitement among the crowd, and among the magistrates of the city, when they heard these charges.
9 [They wanted to put the believers in jail. But instead], the officials made Jason and the other [believers] pay a fine and told them that they [would give the money back to them if Paul and Silas did not cause any more trouble]. Then the authorities let Jason and those other believers go.
They required Jason and the rest to find substantial bail, and after that they let them go.
10 [So] that same night, the believers sent Paul and Silas [out of Thessalonica] to Berea [town]. When Paul and Silas arrived there, they went to the Jewish meeting place, [on a day when people had gathered there].
The brethren at once sent Paul and Silas away by night to Beroea, and they, on their arrival, went to the synagogue of the Jews.
11 The [Jews] in Thessalonica had not been very willing to listen to God’s message, but the [Jews] who lived in Berea were very willing to listen, so they listened very eagerly to the message [about Jesus]. Every day they read the Scriptures [for themselves] to find out if what Paul said [about the Messiah] was true.
The Jews at Beroea were of a nobler disposition than those in Thessalonica, for they very readily received the Message, and day after day searched the Scriptures to see whether it was as Paul stated.
12 As a result, many of the Jewish people believed [in Jesus], and also some of the important non-Jewish women and many non-Jewish men [believed in him].
As the result many of them became believers, and so did not a few of the Greeks--gentlewomen of good position, and men.
13 But then the Jews in Thessalonica heard [people tell them] that Paul [was] in Berea and that he was preaching the message from God [about Jesus]. So they went to Berea and [told people there that what Paul was teaching was not true. Thus], they caused many of those people to get angry [at Paul].
As soon, however, as the Jews of Thessalonica learnt that God's Message had been proclaimed by Paul at Beroea, they came there also, and incited the mob to a riot.
14 So [several of] the believers [in Berea] took Paul to the coast [to go to another province]. But Silas and Timothy stayed in Berea.
Then the brethren promptly sent Paul down to the sea-coast, but Silas and Timothy remained behind.
15 When Paul and the other men from Berea [arrived at the coast, they got on a ship and] went to Athens [city]. Then Paul said [to the men who had come with him], “Tell Silas and Timothy to come to me [here in Athens] as soon as they can.” Then those men left [Athens and returned to Berea].
Those who were caring for Paul's safety went with him as far as Athens, and then left him, taking a message from him to Silas and Timothy, asking them to join him as speedily as possible.
16 In Athens, Paul waited for Silas and Timothy [to arrive. In the meantime, he walked around in the city. He] became very distressed/disturbed because he saw that throughout [HYP] the city there were many idols.
While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, his spirit was stirred within him when he noticed that the city was full of idols.
17 So he went to the Jewish meeting place and talked [about Jesus] with the Jews, and also with the Greeks who had accepted what the Jews believe. He also went to the public square/center every day and talked to the people [whom he met] there.
So he had discussions in the synagogue with the Jews and the other worshippers, and in the market place, day after day, with those whom he happened to meet.
18 Paul met some teachers who liked to talk about what people should believe. [People called] some of them Epicureans and [they called] others Stoics. They told Paul [what they believed], and they asked him [what he believed. Then] some of them said [to one another], “This ignorant person is just talking nonsense [RHQ]!” Others said, “[We(exc) think] that he is teaching people about (foreign gods/[new] gods that we [(exc)] have not heard about).” They said that because Paul was telling them that Jesus [had died and] had become alive again [afterwards. They had not heard that message before].
A few of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also encountered him. Some of them asked, "What has this beggarly babbler to say?" "His business," said others, "seems to be to cry up some foreign gods." This was because he had been telling the Good News of Jesus and the Resurrection.
19 So they took Paul to the place where the city council met. [When they arrived] there, they said to Paul, “[Please] tell us, what is this new message that you [(sg)] are teaching people?
Then they took him and brought him up to the Areopagus, asking him, "May we be told what this new teaching of yours is?
20 You are teaching some things that startle us [(exc)], so we want to know what they mean.”
For the things you are saying sound strange to us. We should therefore like to be told exactly what they mean."
21 [They said that, because] the people of Athens and also the people from other regions who lived there continually talked about what was new [to them], or they listened to [others tell] what was new.
(For all the Athenians and their foreign visitors used to devote their whole leisure to telling or hearing about something new.)
22 Then Paul stood up before the men of the city council and said, “Citizens of Athens, I see that you (are very religious/think that it is very important to worship many gods).
So Paul, taking his stand in the centre of the Areopagus, spoke as follows: "Men of Athens, I perceive that you are in every respect remarkably religious.
23 I [say that] because, while I was walking along and observing the objects [that represent different gods that] you worship, I even saw an altar that had these words [that someone had] carved [on it: THIS HONORS] THE GOD [THAT WE(exc)] DO NOT KNOW. So now I will tell you about [that God] whom you worship but you do not know.
For as I passed along and observed the things you worship, I found also an altar bearing the inscription, 'TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.' "The Being, therefore, whom you, without knowing Him, revere, Him I now proclaim to you.
24 He is the God who made the world and everything in it. Because he rules over all [beings in] heaven and [on] earth, he does not dwell in shrines that people have made.
GOD who made the universe and everything in it--He, being Lord of Heaven and earth, does not dwell in sanctuaries built by men.
25 He does not need to have anything made for him by people [MTY] {to have people [MTY] make [MTY] anything for him}, because everything that exists belongs to him. He is the one who causes (us [(inc)]/all people) to live and breathe, and [he gives us] all the things [that we(inc) need].
Nor is He ministered to by human hands, as though He needed anything--but He Himself gives to all men life and breath and all things.
26 [In the beginning], God created one couple, and from them God produced all (the ethnic groups/the nations) that now live everywhere on the earth. He also decided where each ethnic group of people should live and how long they should live [there].
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;
27 He wanted people to realize that they need him. Then maybe they would seek him and find him. [God wants us to seek him], although he is [really] close [LIT] to each one of us.
that they might seek God, if perhaps they could grope for Him and find Him. Yes, though He is not far from any one of us.
28 As someone has said, ‘[It is only] because he enables us that we [(inc)] live and move and do [what we do].’ And, as some of your own poets have said, ‘We [(inc)] are God’s children.’
For it is in closest union with Him that we live and move and have our being; as in fact some of the poets in repute among yourselves have said, 'For we are also His offspring.'
29 Therefore, because we are God’s children [and can communicate like God does], we [(inc)] should not think that he is anything like an image [that people have made] of gold or silver or stone [which cannot communicate]. Those images are designed and skillfully made {People design and make those images}, [but they are not alive].
Since then we are God's offspring, we ought not to imagine that His nature resembles gold or silver or marble, or anything sculptured by the art and inventive faculty of man.
30 During the times when people did not know [what God wanted them to do], he did not [immediately] punish [them for what they did]. But now God commands all people everywhere to turn away from their evil behavior.
Those times of ignorance God viewed with indulgence. But now He commands all men everywhere to repent,
31 [He tells us] that on a certain day that he has chosen he is going to judge [all of us(inc) people in] [MTY] the world. He has appointed a [certain] man to judge [us, and that man will judge each of us] fairly/justly. God has shown to all [people that he has appointed that man to judge everyone], because God (caused him to become alive again after he had died/raised him from the dead).”
seeing that He has appointed a day on which, before long, He will judge the world in righteousness, through the instrumentality of a man whom He has pre-destined to this work, and has made the fact certain to every one by raising Him from the dead."
32 When the men of the council heard [Paul say] that ([a man] had become alive again after he had died/[someone] had been raised from the dead), some of them laughed scornfully. But others said, “We [(exc)] would like you [(sg)] to tell us more about this, some other time.”
When they heard Paul speak of a resurrection of dead men, some began to scoff. But others said, "We will hear you again on that subject."
33 After they said that, Paul left the council [meeting].
So Paul went away from them.
34 However, some of the people there went along with Paul and became believers. Among those [who believed in Jesus] was a member of the council whose [name was] Dionysius. Also, an [important] woman whose name was Damaris and some other people [who had heard Paul’s message also believed in Jesus].
A few, however, attached themselves to him and believed, among them being Dionysius a member of the Council, a gentlewoman named Damaris, and some others.
