The Uproar in Thessalonica

1When Paul and his companions had traveled through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews.

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

3explaining and presenting evidence that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, saying, “This Jesus whom I am proclaiming to you is the Christ.”

4Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of the devout Greeks and quite a few prominent women.

5But the Jews ²⁰⁶who refused to believe rounded up some evil men from the marketplace and formed a mob, setting the city in an uproar. They attacked Jason's house, seeking to bring Paul and Silas out to the public assembly.

6But when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some other brothers to the city officials, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also,

7and Jason has welcomed them. They all act contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.”

8And they stirred up the crowd and the city officials who heard these things.

9But when the city officials had received a security bond from Jason and the others, they released them.

Paul and Silas in Berea

10As soon as it was night the brothers sent Paul and Silas to Berea. When they arrived, they went to the synagogue of the Jews.

11Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica, and they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.

12As a result, many of them believed, as did quite a few of the Greek women of high standing and the men.

13But when the Jews of Thessalonica found out that Paul was proclaiming the word of God in Berea also, they went there as well, ²⁰⁷agitating the crowds.

14Then the brothers immediately sent Paul ²⁰⁸away, as though he were going by sea, but Silas and Timothy remained in Berea.

15Those who escorted Paul brought him as far as Athens, and after they had received an order for Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as possible, they departed.

Paul in Athens

16While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, his spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was full of idols.

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

18Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers ²⁰⁹also conversed with him. Some said, “What is this babbler trying to say?” But others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign deities.” (They said this because he was ²¹⁰preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.)

19So they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is that yoʋ are presenting?

20For yoʋ are bringing some strange things to our ears, and we would like to know what they mean.”

21(Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who dwelt there would spend their time in nothing else but talking about ²¹¹and listening to whatever the newest idea might be.)

22Paul then stood before the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I see just how religious you are in every way.

23For as I was going around and closely observing yoʋr objects of worship, I even found an altar that had been inscribed: ‘To an unknown god.’ I proclaim to you therefore ²¹²the one whom you worship in ignorance.

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

25neither is he served by ²¹³the hands of men, as though he needed anything. Rather, he himself ²¹⁴continually gives life and breath to all mankind.

26From one ²¹⁵bloodline he created every nation of mankind to dwell on the entire face of the earth. He determined their ²¹⁶appointed times and the boundaries of where they would dwell,

27so that they might seek ²¹⁷the Lord and perhaps feel their way toward him ²¹⁸and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.

28For in him we live and move and have our being, as even some of your own poets have said:
‘For we also are his offspring.’

29Being then the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold, silver, or stone, an image formed by the skill and imagination of man.

30Therefore, having overlooked the times of ignorance, God now commands all people everywhere to repent,

31because he has set a day on which he is going to judge the world in righteousness by a man he has appointed. He has provided assurance of this to everyone by raising this man from the dead.”

32Now when they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some began to scoff, but others said, “We wish to hear about this from yoʋ again.”

33So Paul departed from them,

34but some of the people joined him and believed, among whom were Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others with them.