Acts 17

1 Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews:

2 And Paul, as was his custom, went in to them, and for three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures,

3 Opening and setting forth (evidence) that it was necessary for Christ to have suffered (died) and risen again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom I preach to you, is the Christ.

4 And some of them believed and joined with Paul and Silas; and of the devout Greeks, a great multitude, and more than a few of the leading women.

5 But the Jews who did not believe, moved with envy, rounding up some bad men from the marketplace, and gathered a mob, and set all the city on an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason (Paul’s host), and sought to bring them out to the people.

6 And when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and certain brethren to the rulers of the city, crying, The ones that have turned the world upside down have also come here;

7 Whom Jason has received (into his home): and these (men) all do (things) contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus.

8 And they disturbed the people and the rulers of the city when they heard these things.

9 And when they had taken bond (money) of Jason, and of the others, they let them go.

 

10 And the brethren (of the city) immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea: who arriving there went into the synagogue of the Jews.

 

11 These (Jews) were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind (and zeal), and searched the scriptures daily, (confirming) whether those things were true (regarding Jesus).

12 Therefore, many of them believed, also many of the honorable women who were Greeks, and more than a few men.

13 But when the Jews of Thessalonica had knowledge that the word of God was preached by Paul at Berea, they came there as well and stirred up the people.

14 And then immediately the brethren sent Paul away to go as far as the sea: but Silas and Timothy remained at Berea.

15 And they that had joined with Paul brought him to Athens: and Silas and Timothy, receiving an instruction to come to him with all speed, they departed.

16 Now, while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry (the worship of vain, worthless things).

17 Therefore, he disputed in the synagogue with the Jews, and with the devout persons, and in the marketplace daily with them that met with him.

18 Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans, and of the Stoics, encountered him. And some said, What will this babbler say? Others said, He seems to be a setter forth of strange gods: because he preached to them Jesus, and the resurrection.

19 And they took him, and brought him to Areopagus, saying, Are we able to know what this new doctrine is, of which you speak (and teach)?

20 For you bring strange things to our ears: we would like to know, therefore, what these things mean.

21 {For all the Athenians and strangers who were there (having itching ears) spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell, or to hear some new thing.}

 

22 Then Paul stood in the middle of Mars' hill, and said, You men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are too superstitious (reverencing gods that are not gods at all).

 

23 For as I passed by, and beheld your objects of worship, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom, therefore (being unaware of Him), you ignorantly worship (as unknown), (it is) Him declare I to you (so that you might know Him).

 

24 (The Only True) God, who made the world and all things therein, seeing that He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands;

 

25 Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though He needed anything (from man), seeing He gives to all life, and breath, and all things;

 

26 And has made of every nation of men one (new man) to dwell on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times, and the boundaries of their habitation;

 

27 So that they should seek the Lord, if perhaps they might feel after Him, and find Him (who is the source of all life and goodness), though He is not far from every one of us:

 

28 For in Him we live, and move, and exist (in Him we have our being); as also some of your own poets have said, For we are also His offspring (His kind).

 

29 For as much then as we are the offspring of God, we should not think that the Godhead is like gold, or silver, or stone, engraved by art and (a concoction of) man’s imagination.

 

30 And the times of this (type of) ignorance God winked at; but now (that the Word was made flesh in Jesus Christ) commands all men everywhere to repent (and believe):

 

31 Because He has appointed a day, in which He will judge the world in righteousness by Jesus Christ, (the Word) whom He has ordained (from eternity as the way to life and has manifested in flesh in these last days for you); by Whom He has given certainty to all men, in that He has raised Him from the dead (incorruptible where he dies no more).

 

32 And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked (and laughed at) him: and others said, We will hear from you again of this matter.

33 So Paul departed from among them.

34 However, certain men joined him and believed: among whom was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.