17Paul and Silas passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia. They came to Thessalonica. A Jewish synagogue was there. ²Paul went into the synagogue as he usually did. For three Sabbath days in a row he talked about the Scriptures with the Jews. ³He explained and proved that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead. “This Jesus I am telling you about is the Christ!” he said. ⁴His words won some of the Jews over. They joined Paul and Silas. A large number of Greeks who worshiped God joined them too. So did quite a few important women.

⁵But the Jews were jealous. So they rounded up some evil fellows from the market place. Forming a crowd, they started all kinds of trouble in the city. The Jews rushed to Jason’s house. They were looking for Paul and Silas. They wanted to bring them out to the crowd. ⁶But they couldn’t find them. So they dragged Jason and some other believers to the city officials. “These men have caused trouble all over the world,” they shouted. “Now they have come here. ⁷Jason has welcomed them into his house. They are all disobeying Caesar’s commands. They say there is another king. He is called Jesus.”

⁸When the crowd and the city officials heard this, they became very upset. ⁹They made Jason and the others give them money. They wanted to make sure they would return to the court. Then they let them go.

Paul and Silas Are Sent to Berea

¹⁰As soon as it was night, the believers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. When they arrived, they went to the Jewish synagogue.

¹¹The Bereans were very glad to receive Paul’s message. They studied the Scriptures carefully every day. They wanted to see if what Paul said was true. So they were more noble than the Thessalonians. ¹²Many of the Jews believed. A number of important Greek women also became believers. And so did many Greek men.

¹³The Jews in Thessalonica found out that Paul was preaching God’s word in Berea. So they went there too. They stirred up the crowds and got them all worked up.

¹⁴Right away the believers sent Paul to the coast. But Silas and Timothy stayed in Berea. ¹⁵The men who went with Paul took him to Athens. Then they returned with orders that Silas and Timothy were supposed to join him as soon as they could.

Paul Preaches in Athens

¹⁶Paul was waiting for Silas and Timothy in Athens. He was very upset to see that the city was full of statues of gods.

Read in Logos

Acts 17:11: Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.