Atos 17

¹ And taking their journey through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica; where there was a synagogue of the Jews.

² And according to Paul's custom, he entered in among them, and discoursed to them for three Sabbaths from the scriptures;

³ opening them, and evidently showing that the Messiah ought to suffer, and to rise from the dead; and that this is the Messiah, even Jesus, whom I declare to you.

⁴ And some of them believed, and adhered to Paul and Silas; besides, a considerable number of the devout Greeks, and not a few of the principal women.

⁵ But the unbelieving Jews, filled with zeal, gathered together some mean and profligate fellows, and making a mob, threw the city into a tumult; and assaulting the house of Jason, endeavored to bring them out to the people.

⁶ But not finding them, they dragged Jason, and some of the brethren to the magistrates of the city, crying out, These men, that have turned the world upside down, are come hither, also;

⁷ and Jason has privately received them. And all these men act contrary to the decrees of Cesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus.

⁸ And they alarmed the multitude and the magistrates of the city, when they heard these things.

⁹ And having taken security of Jason, and the rest, they dismissed them.

¹⁰ But the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas, by night, to Berea: and when they came thither, they went into the synagogue of the Jews.

¹¹ Now these were of a more noble disposition that those of Thessalonica: for they received the word with all readiness of mind, daily examining the scriptures, whether those things were so.

¹² Many of them, therefore, believed; both of the Grecian women of considerable rank, and of the men not a few.

¹³ But as soon as some of the Jews of Thessalonica understood that the word of God was announced by Paul at Berea, they came thither, also, exciting the populace.

¹⁴ And then immediately the brethren sent away Paul, as if he were to go by sea. But Silas and Timothy continued there.

¹⁵ And they that conducted Paul, brought him as far as Athens: and having received an order for Silas and Timothy, that they should come to him as soon as possible, they set out.

¹⁶ Now, while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit within him was strongly moved when he beheld the city enslaved to idolatry.

¹⁷ He therefore reasoned with the Jews and proselytes in the synagogue; and in the forum, daily, with those who met with him.

¹⁸ Then some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers opposed him. Others said, What would this babbler say? And others, he seems to be a proclaimer of foreign deities; because he declared to them the good news concerning Jesus and the resurrection.

¹⁹ And they took him and conducted him to the Areopagus, saying, May we know what this new doctrine is, which is spoken by you?

²⁰ for you bring some strange things to our ears; we would, therefore, know what these things mean.

²¹ For all the Athenians, and the strangers that sojourned among them spent their leisure in nothing else but in telling or hearing news.

²² Paul, therefore, standing up in the middle of Areopagus, said, Athenians, I perceive that you are exceedingly addicted to the worship of demons.

²³ For, as I passed along, and beheld the objects of your worship, I found an altar with this inscription, To the Unknown God: Him, therefore, you ignorantly worship, I announce to you.

²⁴ The God who made the world, and all things that are in it, being the Lord of heaven and earth, dwells not in temples made with hands:

²⁵ Neither is he served by human hands, as if he stood in need of anything; he himself giving to all, life, and breath, and all things.

²⁶ And he has made of one blood, the whole race of men, to inhabit all the face of the earth; having marked out the times previously arranged in order, and the boundaries of their habitations:

²⁷ that they might seek after the Lord, if possibly they might feel after him, and find him; though he be not far from every one of us:

²⁸ «for in him we live, and are moved, and do exist; as some of your own poets have said-For we his offspring are.»

²⁹ We, therefore, being the offspring of God, ought not to imagine the Deity to be like gold, or silver, or stone, wrought by the art and contrivance of man.

³⁰ For though God overlooked the times of ignorance, he now makes proclamation to all men, everywhere, to reform;

³¹ because he has appointed a day, in which he will judge the world righteously, by that Man whom he has ordained: of which he has given assurance to all men, by raising him from the dead.

³² And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some made a jest of it, and others said, We will hear you again upon this subject.

³³ And this Paul went out of the midst of them.

³⁴ Nevertheless, some men adhered to him, and believed: among whom was Dionysius, the Areopagite; also a woman, whose name was Damaris; and others with them.