Thessalonica

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

2So Paul, as was his custom, went in to them and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures,

3explaining and demonstrating that the Messiah had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and that “this Jesus whom I proclaim to you is the Messiah.”

4Some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of devout Greeks and not a few of the prominent women.

5But the disobedient Jews ³⁷⁴rounded up some wicked men from the marketplace, and forming a mob they created an uproar in the city; and attacking the house of Jason, they wanted to bring them out to the crowd.

6But not finding them they dragged Jason and some other brothers before the city officials vociferating: “These who have upset the whole world ³⁷⁵have come here too,

7to whom Jason has given lodging. These all act contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying there is another king—Jesus.”

8Well they agitated the crowd and the city officials when they heard these things.

9Then they took a security bond from Jason and the rest and let them go.

Berea

10Immediately, during the night, the brothers sent both Paul and Silas away to Berea; on arriving they went into the synagogue of the Jews.

11Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all goodwill, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things might be so. ³⁷⁶

12Therefore many of them believed, and also not a few of the Greeks, prominent women as well as men.

13But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that the Word of God was also being proclaimed by Paul in Berea, they came too, agitating the crowds.

14So then, without delay, the brothers sent Paul away, as if to go by sea, while both Silas and Timothy remained there.

15But those who were conducting Paul actually took him all the way to Athens; ³⁷⁷and receiving a command to Silas and Timothy that they should come to him as quickly as possible, they started back.

Athens

16Now while Paul was waiting for them in Athens, his spirit was increasingly aroused within him as he observed that the city was full of idols.

17So he reasoned both in the synagogue with the Jews and devout persons, and in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there.

18Then certain philosophers, both Epicureans and Stoics, encountered him. Some said, “What might this idea-scavenger ³⁷⁸want to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign deities”—because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection.

19So taking him in tow they led him to the Areopagus and said: “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting?

20Because you are bringing some strange things to our ears, and we would like to know what they might mean.” ³⁷⁹

21(Now all Athenians and resident foreigners spent their time in nothing else but to tell, or else to hear, some novelty.)

Paul's Areopagus address

22So standing in the middle of the Areopagus Paul said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious;

23because as I went along and scrutinized the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO UNKNOWN GOD. Now then, the one you worship as ‘unknown’, this is the One I proclaim to you:

24The God who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples built by hands,

25neither is He cared for by men's hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself has always given life and breath to all. ³⁸⁰

26And from one blood ³⁸¹He made every ethnic nation of men to dwell on all the surface of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, ³⁸²

27so that they should seek the Lord, ³⁸³if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us;

28because in Him we live and move and have our being. ³⁸⁴As also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also his offspring.’ ³⁸⁵

29Therefore, since we are God's offspring, we ought not to think that the divinity is like gold or silver or stone—something shaped by human skill and imagination. ³⁸⁶

30Such times of ignorance God did indeed overlook, but now He commands all people everywhere to repent,

31because He has appointed a day in which He will judge the inhabited world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained; He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.” ³⁸⁷

32Well when they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some started scoffing, ³⁸⁸while others said, “We will hear you again about this.” ³⁸⁹

33And with that Paul went out from among them. ³⁹⁰

34However some men believed and joined him, among them Dionysius the Areopagite, also a woman named Damaris, and others with them.