Paul and Silas in Thessalonica
1 Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to
1Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews.
2
And Paul went in,
2as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them
3from the Scriptures,
3
4explaining and proving that it was necessary for
5the Christ to suffer and
6to rise from the dead, and saying, "This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ."
4
And
7some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did
8a great many of the devout
9Greeks and not a few of the leading women.
5
10But the Jews
11were jealous, and taking
12some wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob, set the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out to the crowd.
6
And when they could not find them,
13they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, "These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also,
7
and Jason has received them, and they are all acting against
14the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is
15another king, Jesus."
8
And the people and the city authorities were disturbed when they heard these things.
9
And when they had taken money as security from Jason and the rest, they let them go.
Paul and Silas in Berea
10 16The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they
17went into the Jewish synagogue.
11
Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness,
18examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.
12
19Many of them therefore believed, with not a few Greek
20women of high standing as well as men.
13
But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that the word of God was proclaimed by Paul at Berea also, they came there too,
21agitating and stirring up the crowds.
14
Then the brothers
22immediately sent Paul off on his way to the sea, but Silas and
23Timothy remained there.
15
24Those who conducted Paul brought him as far as
25Athens, and after receiving a command
26for Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as possible, they departed.
Paul in Athens
16 Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was
27provoked within him as he saw that the city was
28full of idols.
17
So
29he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there.
18
Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him. And some said,
30"What does this babbler wish to say?" Others said, "He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities"--because
31he was preaching
32Jesus and the resurrection.
19
And they took him and brought him to
33the Areopagus, saying, "May we know what this
34new teaching is that you are presenting?
20
For you bring some
35strange things to our ears. We wish to know therefore what these things mean."
21
Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new.
Paul Addresses the Areopagus
22 So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: "Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious.
23
For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription,
36'To the unknown god.'
37What therefore you worship
38as unknown, this I proclaim to you.
24
39The God who made the world and everything in it, being
40Lord of heaven and earth,
41does not live in temples made by man,
25
nor is he served by human hands,
42as though he needed anything, since he himself
43gives to all mankind
44life and breath and everything.
26
And
45he made from one man every nation of mankind to live
46on all the face of the earth,
47having determined allotted periods and
48the boundaries of their dwelling place,
27
49that they should seek God, in the hope that
50they might feel their way toward him and find him.
51Yet he is actually not far from each one of us,
28
for
52"'In him we live and move and have our being';as even some of
53your own poets have said, "'For we are indeed his offspring.'
29
54Being then God's offspring,
55we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man.
30
56The times of ignorance
57God overlooked, but
58now he
59commands all people everywhere to repent,
31
because he has fixed
60a day on which
61he will judge the world
62in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and
63of this he has given assurance to all
64by raising him from the dead."
32
Now when they heard of
65the resurrection of the dead,
66some mocked. But others said,
67"We will hear you again about this."
33
So Paul went out from their midst.
34
But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius
68the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.