Acts
Chapter 17
1 After they traveled through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they arrived in Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue.
2 Paul, as he usually did, met with them and for three Saturdays discussed the scriptures with them.
3 Explaining and proving that Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead; and that this Jesus, who I tell you about, is the Christ.
4 Some believed and joined Paul and Silas, including many god-fearing Greeks and several influential women.
5 But the Jews who did not believe, jealous as they were, gathered some wicked men from the streets, formed a mob, started a riot in the city, attacked Jason’s house, and tried to bring them out to the crowd.
6 When they couldn’t find them, they dragged Jason and some other followers to the city authorities, shouting, “These people who have been causing trouble all over the world have now come here too.”
7 Jason has welcomed them, and they all act against Caesar’s laws, claiming there is another king named Jesus.
8 They upset the people and city leaders when they heard this.
9 After they got a promise from Jason and the other person, they released them.
10 The brothers quickly sent Paul and Silas away at night to the city of Berea, and when they arrived, they went into the Jewish synagogue.
11 They were more open-minded than the people in Thessalonica because they eagerly accepted the message and examined the scriptures every day to see if it was true.
12 So many people believed, including respected Greek women and quite a few men.
13 When the Thessalonica Jews learned that Paul was spreading God’s message in Berea, they went there and caused trouble among the people.
14 Right away, the followers sent Paul to the sea, while Silas and Timothy stayed there.
15 The people guiding Paul took him to Athens. After telling Silas and Timothy to hurry and join him, they left.
16 While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he felt deeply troubled when he saw that the city was full of idol worship.
17 So he argued in the church with the Jews and with the religious people, and every day in the town center with those who spent time with him.
18 Some Epicurean and Stoic philosophers met him. Some asked, “What is this chatterer trying to say?” Others said, “He seems to talk about foreign gods,” because he was telling them about Jesus and the resurrection.
19 They took him to Areopagus and asked, “Can we find out what this new teaching you speak of is?”
20 You are telling us about some new and strange things, and we want to understand what they mean.
21 The people of Athens and the visitors there only used their time to talk about or listen to the latest news.
22 Paul stood in the middle of Mars Hill and said, “People of Athens, I see that you are very religious in every way.”
23 As I walked by and saw your religious statues, I noticed one altar with the words, ‘To the Unknown God.’ You worship without knowing; this is the God I’m telling you about.
24 God, who created the world and everything in it, is the ruler of heaven and earth and does not live in buildings made by people.
25 God is not served by human hands, as if He needed anything, because He gives life, breath, and everything to everyone.
26 God made all people from one family to live everywhere on earth, and set the times and limits of where they live.
27 They should look for God, hoping they might reach out to find him, because he is not far from any of us.
28 In him we exist, move, and are alive; as some of your poets have said, we are his children too.
29 Since we are God’s children, we should not believe that God is like gold, silver, or stone, shaped by skill and human design.
30 In the past, God overlooked such ignorance, but now He commands everyone everywhere to change their ways.
31 God has set a day when he will fairly judge everyone by the man he has chosen, and he has proven this to everyone by raising him from the dead.
32 When they heard about the dead coming back to life, some laughed, and others said, “We will listen to you talk about this again later.”
33 So Paul left them.
34 However, some men stuck with him and believed. Among them was Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others with them.