Acts 17

Chapter 17

Paul at Thessalonica

¹Now when they had traveled through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to ^aThessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews.

²And ^aaccording to Paul’s custom, he went to them, and for three ^bSabbaths reasoned with them from ^cthe Scriptures,

³¹explaining and ²giving evidence that the ³Christ ^ahad to suffer and ^brise again from the dead, and saying, “^cThis Jesus whom I am proclaiming to you is the Christ.”

^4aAnd some of them were persuaded and joined ^bPaul and Silas, ¹along with a large number of the ^cGod-fearing ^dGreeks and ²a number of the ^eleading women.

⁵But ^athe Jews, becoming jealous and taking along some wicked men from the market place, formed a mob and set the city in an uproar; and attacking the house of ^bJason, they were seeking to bring them out to the people.

⁶When they did not find them, they began ^adragging Jason and some brethren before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have upset ^1bthe world have come here also;

⁷¹and Jason ^ahas welcomed them, and they all act ^bcontrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.”

⁸They stirred up the crowd and the city authorities who heard these things.

⁹And when they had received a ¹pledge from ^aJason and the others, they released them.

Paul at Berea

^10aThe brethren immediately sent ^bPaul and Silas away by night to ^cBerea, ¹and when they arrived, they went into ^dthe synagogue of the Jews.

¹¹Now these were more noble-minded than those in ^aThessalonica, ¹for they received the word with ²great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.

¹²Therefore ^amany of them believed, ¹along with a number of ^bprominent Greek ^cwomen and men.

¹³But when the Jews of ^aThessalonica found out that the word of God had been proclaimed by Paul in ^bBerea also, they came there as well, agitating and stirring up the crowds.

¹⁴Then immediately ^athe brethren sent Paul out to go as far as the sea; and ^bSilas and ^cTimothy remained there.

¹⁵Now ^athose who escorted Paul brought him as far as ^bAthens; and receiving a command for ^cSilas and Timothy to ^dcome to him as soon as possible, they left.

Paul at Athens

¹⁶Now while Paul was waiting for them at ^aAthens, his spirit was being provoked within him as he was observing the city full of idols.

¹⁷So he was reasoning ^ain the synagogue with the Jews and ^bthe God-fearing Gentiles, and in the market place every day with those who happened to be present.

¹⁸And also some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers were ¹conversing with him. Some were saying, “What would ^athis ²idle babbler wish to say?” Others, “He seems to be a proclaimer of strange deities,”—because he was preaching ^bJesus and the resurrection.

¹⁹And they ^atook him and brought him ¹to the ^2bAreopagus, saying, “May we know what ^cthis new teaching is ³which you are proclaiming?

²⁰“For you are bringing some strange things to our ears; so we want to know what these things mean.”

²¹(Now all the Athenians and the strangers ^avisiting there used to spend their time in nothing other than telling or hearing something new.)

Sermon on Mars Hill

²²So Paul stood in the midst of the ¹Areopagus and said, “Men of ^aAthens, I observe that you are very ^breligious in all respects.

²³“For while I was passing through and examining the ^aobjects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription, ‘TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.’ Therefore what ^byou worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you.

²⁴“^aThe God who made the world and all things in it, since He is ^bLord of heaven and earth, does not ^cdwell in temples made with hands;

²⁵nor is He served by human hands, ^aas though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things;

²⁶and ^aHe made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having ^bdetermined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation,

²⁷that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, ^athough He is not far from each one of us;

²⁸for ^ain Him we live and move and ¹exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His children.’

²⁹“Being then the children of God, we ^aought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man.

³⁰“Therefore having ^aoverlooked ^bthe times of ignorance, God is ^cnow declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent,

³¹because He has fixed ^aa day in which ^bHe will judge ^1cthe world in righteousness ²through a Man whom He has ^dappointed, having furnished proof to all men ³by ^eraising Him from the dead.”

³²Now when they heard of ^athe resurrection of the dead, some began to sneer, but others said, “We shall hear you ¹again concerning this.”

³³So Paul went out of their midst.

³⁴But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the ^aAreopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.