16
Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols.
17
So he argued in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the market place every day with those who chanced to be there.
18
Some also of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers met him. And some said, "What would this babbler say?" Others said, "He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities" --because he preached Jesus and the resurrection.
19
And they took hold of him and brought him to the Are-op'agus, saying, "May we know what this new teaching is which you present?
20
For you bring some strange things to our ears; we wish to know therefore what these things mean."
21
Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new.
22
So Paul, standing in the middle of the Are-op'agus, 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, 'To an unknown god.' What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.
24
The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by man,
25
nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all men life and breath and everything.
26
And he made from one every nation of men to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their habitation,