Acts 17

1. And after journeying through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of Jews.

2. And as was the custom with Paul, he went in to them and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures,

3. Expounding and demonstrating that it was necessary for Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and testifying, “This Jesus, Whom I am proclaiming to you, is the Christ.”

4. Now some of them were convinced, and joined themselves to Paul and Silas, including a great multitude of devout Greeks, and of the chief women not a few.

5. But the unbelieving Jews became envious and took to them certain evil men of the baser sort; and when they had gathered a huge crowd, they set the city in an uproar; and they assaulted the house of Jason, looking for Paul and Silas, to bring them out to the people.

6. And when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and certain brethren before the city magistrates, crying out, “Those who have set the whole world in confusion have come here also,

7. Whom Jason has received; and these all do what is contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.”

8. And they caused great agitation among the people and the city magistrates, who heard these things.

9. But after taking security from Jason and the rest, they let them go.

10. Then the brethren immediately sent away by night to Berea both Paul and Silas, who, when they arrived, went into the synagogue of the Jews.

11. Now these were more noble than those in Thessalonica, for they received the Word with all readiness of mind and examined the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.

12. As a result, a great number of them believed, including not a few of the honorable Greek women and men.

13. But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that Paul was preaching the Word of God in Berea also, they came there to stir up the multitude.

14. Then the brethren immediately sent Paul away, as if he were going to the sea; but both Silas and Timothy remained there.

15. Now those who were conducting Paul brought him to Athens; and after receiving Paul’s command to Silas and Timothy to come to him as quickly as possible, they departed.

16. But while Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he saw that the city was wholly given to idolatry, and his spirit was sorely moved within him.

17. Because of this, he reasoned earnestly in the synagogue with the Jews and those who worshiped there, and daily in the marketplace with those who met with him.

18. Then some philosophers of the Epicureans and the Stoics encountered him. And some of them said, “What will this babbler have to say?” And some said, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign gods,” because he was preaching to them the gospel of Jesus and the resurrection.

19. And they took him and brought him to Mars’ hill, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is that is spoken by you?

20. For you are bringing certain strange things to our ears. So then, we desire to know what these things mean.”

21. (Now all the Athenians and the strangers sojourning among them spent their leisure in nothing other than to tell and to hear something new.)

22. Then Paul stood in the center of Mars’ hill and said, “Men, Athenians, I perceive that in all things you are very reverent to deities;

23. For as I was passing through and observing the objects of your veneration, I also found an altar on which was inscribed, ‘To an unknown God.’ So then, He Whom you worship in ignorance is the One that I proclaim to you.

24. He is the God Who made the world and all things that are in it. Being the Lord of heaven and earth, He does not dwell in temples made by hands;

25. Nor is He served by the hands of men, as though He needs anything, for He gives to all life and breath and all things.

26. And He made of one blood all the nations of men to dwell upon all the face of the earth, having determined beforehand their appointed times and the boundaries of their dwelling;

27. In order that they might seek the Lord, if perhaps they might feel after Him and might find Him; though truly, He is not far from each one of us,

28. For in Him we live and move and have our being; as some of the poets among you also have said, ‘For we are His offspring.’

29. Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we should not think that the Godhead is like that which is made of gold, or silver, or stone—a graven thing of art devised by the imagination of man;

30. For although God has indeed overlooked the times of this ignorance, He now commands all men everywhere to repent,

31. Because He has set a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness by a Man Whom He has appointed, having given proof to all by raising Him from the dead.”

32. And after hearing about the resurrection of the dead, some mocked; but some said, “We will hear you again concerning this matter.”

33. And so Paul went out from among them.

34. But certain ones who believed joined themselves to him, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.