The In-Dept Study of the Bible
Apostles 17
1 Now when they had passed through
Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to
Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish
synagogue.
2 Paul, as was his custom, went in to
them; and for three Sabbath days reasoned
with them from the Scriptures,
3 explaining and demonstrating that the
Christ had to suffer and rise again from
the dead, and saying, “This Jesus, whom I
proclaim to you, is the Christ.”
4 Some of them were persuaded and
joined Paul and Silas: of the devout Greeks
a great multitude, andnot a few ofthe chief
women.
5 But the unpersuaded Jews took along†
some wicked men from the marketplace
and gathering a crowd, set the city in an
uproar. Assaulting the house of Jason, they
sought to bring them out to the people.
6 When they didn’t find them, they
dragged Jason and certain brothers‡ before
the rulers of the city, crying, “These
who have turned the world upside down
have come here also,
7 whom Jason has received. These all act
contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying
that there is another king, Jesus!”
8 The multitude and the rulers of the
city were troubled when they heard these
things.
9 When they had taken security from
Jason and the rest, they let them go.
10 The brothers immediately sent Paul
and Silas away by night to Beroea. When
they arrived, they went into the Jewish
synagogue.
11 Now these were more noble than
those inThessalonica, inthatthey received
the word with all readiness of mind,
examining the Scriptures daily to see whether
these things were so.
12 Many of them therefore believed; also
of the prominent Greek women, and not a few men.
13 But whenthe Jews of Thessalonicahad
knowledge that the word of God was proclaimed
by Paul at Beroea also, they came
there likewise, agitating the multitudes.
14 Then the brothers immediately sent
out Paul to go as far as to the sea, and Silas
and Timothy still stayed there.
15 But those who escorted Paul brought
him as far as Athens. Receiving a commandment
to Silas and Timothy that they should
come to him very quickly, they departed.
16 Now while Paul waited for them at
Athens, his spirit wasprovoked withinhim
as he saw the city full of idols.
17 So he reasoned in the synagogue with
the Jews andthedevoutpersons, andinthe
marketplace everyday withthose whomet him.
18 Some of the Epicurean and Stoic
philosophers also§ were conversing with
him. Some said, “What does this babbler
want to say?” Others said, “He seems to
be advocating foreign deities,” because
he preached Jesus and the resurrection.
19 They took hold of him and brought
him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we
know whatthis new teaching is, which you
are speaking about?
20 For you bring certain strange things to
our ears. We want to know therefore what
these things mean.”
21 Now all the Athenians and the
strangers living there spent their time in
nothing else, but either to tell or to hear
some new thing.
22 Paul stood in the middle of the Areopagus
and said, “You men of Athens, I perceive that
you are very religious in all things.
23 For as I passed along and observed
the objects of your worship, I also found
an altar with this inscription: ‘TO AN
UNKNOWN GOD.’ What therefore you worship
in ignorance, I announce to you.
24 The God who made the world and all
things in it, he, being Lord of heaven and
earth, doesn’t dwell in temples made with
hands.
25 He isn’t served by men’s hands, as
though he needed anything, seeing he him self
gives to all life and breath and all things.
26 He made from one blood every nation of men to
dwell on all the surface of the earth, having
determined appointed seasons and the boundaries
of their dwellings,
27 that they should seek the Lord, if perhaps
they might reach outfor him and find
him, though he is not far from each one of us.
28 ‘For in him we live, move, and have
our being.’ As some of your own poets
have said, ‘For we are also his offspring.’
29 Being then the offspring of God, we
ought not to think that the Divine Nature
is like gold, or silver, or stone, engraved by
art and design of man.
30 The times of ignorance therefore God
overlooked. But now he commands that all
people everywhere should repent,
31 because he has appointed a day in
which he will judge the world in righteousness
by the man whom he has ordained; of
which he has given assurance to all men,
in that he has raised him from the dead.”
32 Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked; but others
said, “We want to hear you again concerning this.”
33 Thus Paul went out from among them.
34 But certain men joined with him
and believed, including Dionysius
the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris,
and others with them.