Acts 17:22-31

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, ¹'To the unknown god.'²What therefore you worship ³as unknown, this I proclaim to you.

24 ⁴The God who made the world and everything in it, being ⁵Lord of heaven and earth, ⁶does not live in temples made by man,^[a]

25 nor is he served by human hands, ⁷as though he needed anything, since he himself ⁸gives to all mankind ⁹life and breath and everything.

26 And ¹⁰he made from one man every nation of mankind to live ¹¹on all the face of the earth, ¹²having determined allotted periods and ¹³the boundaries of their dwelling place,

27 ¹⁴that they should seek God, in the hope that ¹⁵they might feel their way toward him and find him. ¹⁶Yet he is actually not far from each one of us,

28 for ¹⁷"'In him we live and move and have our being';^[b]as even some of ¹⁸your own poets have said, "'For we are indeed his offspring.'^[c]

29 ¹⁹Being then God's offspring, ²⁰we 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 ²¹The times of ignorance ²²God overlooked, but ²³now he ²⁴commands all people everywhere to repent,

31 because he has fixed ²⁵a day on which ²⁶he will judge the world ²⁷in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and ²⁸of this he has given assurance to all ²⁹by raising him from the dead."

Cross References

• 1. [John 4:22; 1 Corinthians 15:34]
• 2. [John 4:22; 1 Corinthians 15:34]
• 3. [ver. 30]
• 4. Isaiah 42:5; See Acts 14:15
• 5. Matthew 11:25; [Deuteronomy 10:14; Psalms 115:16]
• 6. See Acts 7:48
• 7. Psalms 50:8-12; [1 Chronicles 29:14, 16; Job 22:2]
• 8. 1 Timothy 6:17; James 1:5, 17
• 9. Genesis 2:7; Genesis 7:22; Job 33:4; [Job 27:3; Ecclesiastes 12:7; Zechariah 12:1]; See ver. 28
• 10. [Genesis 3:20; Malachi 2:10]
• 11. Genesis 11:8; Luke 21:35
• 12. [Job 12:23; Job 14:5]
• 13. Deuteronomy 32:8; [Psalms 74:17]
• 14. [Acts 15:17]
• 15. [Job 23:3, 8, 9]
• 16. [Deuteronomy 4:7; Psalms 145:18; Jeremiah 23:23, 24]; See Acts 14:17
• 17. Job 12:10; Daniel 5:23; [Hebrews 2:11]
• 18. [Titus 1:12]
• 19. [Luke 3:38; Hebrews 12:9]
• 20. Isa. 40:18, 19, 25; Isaiah 46:5; [Romans 1:23]
• 21. Ephesians 4:18; 1 Peter 1:14; [ver. 23]
• 22. [Romans 3:25]; See Acts 14:16
• 23. [Mark 1:15; Titus 2:11, 12; 1 Peter 4:3]
• 24. Mark 6:12
• 25. Matthew 12:36; Romans 2:16; 1 Corinthians 3:13; 2 Peter 2:9; 1 John 4:17; [Isaiah 2:12]
• 26. 2 Timothy 4:8; See Acts 10:42
• 27. Psalms 9:8; Psalms 96:13; Psalms 98:9; 1 Peter 2:23; [Romans 3:6]
• 28. [John 16:10, 11; Romans 1:4]
• 29. See Acts 2:24

Footnotes

• [a]. Greek made by hands
• [b]. Probably from Epimenides of Crete
• [c]. From Aratus's poem "Phainomena"