Acts 17:1-34

17  They now journeyed through Am·phipʹo·lis and Ap·ol·loʹni·a and came to Thes·sa·lo·niʹca,+ where there was a synagogue of the Jews.  So according to Paul’s custom+ he went inside to them, and for three sabbaths he reasoned with them from the Scriptures,+  explaining and proving by references that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer+ and to rise from the dead,+ and [saying]: “This is the Christ,+ this Jesus whom I am publishing to YOU.”  As a result some of them became believers+ and associated themselves with Paul and Silas,+ and a great multitude of the Greeks who worshiped [God] and not a few of the principal women did so.  But the Jews, getting jealous,+ took into their company certain wicked men of the marketplace idlers and formed a mob and proceeded to throw the city into an uproar.+ And they assaulted the house of Jaʹson+ and went seeking to have them brought forth to the rabble.  When they did not find them they dragged Jaʹson and certain brothers to the city rulers,* crying out: “These men that have overturned+ the inhabited earth are present here also,  and Jaʹson has received them with hospitality. And all these [men] act in opposition to the decrees+ of Caesar,* saying there is another king,+ Jesus.”  They indeed agitated the crowd and the city rulers when they heard these things;  and first after taking sufficient security* from Jaʹson and the others they let them go. 10  Immediately by night+ the brothers sent both Paul and Silas out to Be·roeʹa, and these, upon arriving, went into the synagogue of the Jews. 11  Now the latter were more noble-minded than those in Thes·sa·lo·niʹca, for they received the word with the greatest eagerness of mind, carefully examining+ the Scriptures+ daily as to whether these things were so.+ 12  Therefore many of them became believers, and so did not a few of the reputable+ Greek women and of the men. 13  But when the Jews from Thes·sa·lo·niʹca learned that the word of God was published also in Be·roeʹa by Paul, they came there also to incite+ and agitate+ the masses. 14  Then the brothers immediately sent Paul off to go as far as the sea;+ but both Silas and Timothy remained behind there. 15  However, those conducting Paul brought him as far as Athens and, after receiving a command for Silas and Timothy+ to come to him as quickly as possible, they departed. 16  Now while Paul was waiting for them in Athens, his spirit within him came to be irritated+ at beholding that the city was full of idols. 17  Consequently he began to reason in the synagogue with the Jews+ and the other people who worshiped [God] and every day in the marketplace+ with those who happened to be on hand. 18  But certain ones of both the Ep·i·cu·reʹan and the Stoʹic philosophers+ took to conversing with him controversially, and some would say: “What is it this chatterer* would like to tell?”+ Others: “He seems to be a publisher of foreign deities.”* This was because he was declaring the good news of Jesus and the resurrection.+ 19  So they laid hold of him and led him to the Ar·e·opʹa·gus,* saying: “Can we get to know what this new teaching+ is which is spoken by you? 20  For you are introducing some things that are strange to our ears. Therefore we desire to get to know what these things purport to be.”+ 21  In fact, all Athenians and the foreigners sojourning there would spend their leisure time at nothing but telling something or listening to something new. 22  Paul now stood in the midst of the Ar·e·opʹa·gus+ and said: “Men of Athens, I behold that in all things YOU seem to be more given to the fear of the deities*+ than others are. 23  For instance, while passing along and carefully observing YOUR objects of veneration I also found an altar on which had been inscribed ‘To an Unknown God.’ Therefore what YOU are unknowingly giving godly devotion to, this I am publishing to YOU. 24  The God that made the world and all the things in it, being, as this One is, Lord of heaven and earth,+ does not dwell in handmade temples,*+ 25  neither is he attended to by human hands as if he needed anything,+ because he himself gives to all [persons] life+ and breath+ and all things. 26  And he made out of one [man]+ every nation+ of men, to dwell upon the entire surface of the earth,+ and he decreed the appointed times+ and the set limits of the dwelling of [men],+ 27  for them to seek God,+ if they might grope for him and really find him,+ although, in fact, he is not far off from each one of us. 28  For by* him we have life and move and exist,+ even as certain ones* of the poets+ among YOU have said, ‘For we are also his progeny.’ 29  “Seeing, therefore, that we are the progeny of God,+ we ought not to imagine that the Divine Being*+ is like gold or silver or stone, like something sculptured by the art and contrivance of man.+ 30  True, God has overlooked the times of such ignorance,+ yet now he is telling mankind that they should all everywhere repent.+ 31  Because he has set a day in which he purposes to judge+ the inhabited earth* in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and he has furnished a guarantee* to all men in that he has resurrected+ him from the dead.” 32  Well, when they heard of a resurrection of the dead, some began to mock,+ while others said: “We will hear you about this even another time.” 33  Thus Paul went out from their midst, 34  but some men joined themselves to him and became believers, among whom also were Di·o·nysʹi·us, a judge of the court of the Ar·e·opʹa·gus,*+ and a woman named Damʹa·ris, and others besides them.

Footnotes

Lit., “politarchs.” Gr., po·li·tarʹkhas, governors of the citizens.
Or, “of the emperor.” Gr., Kaiʹsa·ros.
Or, “sufficient bail.” Lat., saʹtis, “enough.”
Lit., “seed picker.”
Lit., “demons.” Gr., dai·mo·niʹon.
Or, “Hill of Ares; Mars’ Hill.” Gr., Aʹrei·on Paʹgon; Lat., A·ri·oʹpa·gum.
“More given to the fear of the deities.” Lit., “more demon-dreading.” Gr., dei·si·dai·mo·ne·steʹrous; Lat., su·per·sti·ti·o·si·oʹres. Demons were thought by the Greeks to be deities, good or evil. Compare 25:19 ftn.
Or, “divine habitations (dwellings).” Gr., na·oisʹ; J17,​22(Heb.), beheh·kha·lohthʹ, “in palaces (temples).”
Or, “in.”
“Certain ones,” namely, Aratus and Cleanthes. Paul’s quotation is from Phænomena, by Aratus, and from Hymn to Zeus, by Cleanthes.
“Divine Being.” Gr., Theiʹon, related to The·osʹ, “God”; Lat., Di·viʹnum.
“Inhabited earth.” Lit., “inhabited.” Gr., oi·kou·meʹnen, fem. sing., referring to the earth; Lat., orʹbem, “circle,” that is, of the earth. See Isa 13:11 ftn, “Land.”
Or, “faith.”
Or, “Dionysius, an Areopagite.”