1 Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came togch. 20:4; Phil. 4:16; 1 Thess. 1:1 Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. 2 And Paul went in,hSee ch. 13:5 as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with themiSee ch. 8:35 from the Scriptures, 3 jLuke 24:26, 32 explaining and proving that it was necessary forkSee ch. 3:18 the Christ to suffer andlSee John 20:9 to rise from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ. ” 4 Andm[1 Thess. 2:1, 2]; See ch. 14:4 some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as didnver. 12 a great many of the devoutoSee John 7:35 Greeks and not a few of the leading women. 5 p1 Thess. 2:14-16; See ch. 13:50 But the JewsqSee ch. 5:17 were jealous, and takingr[Judg. 9:4; 11:3; 2 Chr. 13:7] some 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,sch. 16:19-21 they 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 againsttch. 16:4; Luke 2:1 the decrees of Caesar, saying that there isuSee Luke 23:2 another 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.
10 vver. 14; See John 21:23 The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived theywver. 2 went into the Jewish synagogue. 11 Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness,x[Isa. 34:16; John 5:39] examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. 12 yver. 4 Many of them therefore believed, with not a few Greekzch. 13:50 women 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,aver. 8 agitating and stirring up the crowds. 14 Then the brothersbver. 10; See Matt. 10:23 immediately sent Paul off on his way to the sea, but Silas andcSee ch. 16:1 Timothy remained there. 15 d[ch. 15:3] Those who conducted Paul brought him as far asech. 18:1; 1 Thess. 3:1 Athens, and after receiving a commandfch. 18:5 for Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as possible, they departed.
16 Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit wasg[2 Pet. 2:8] provoked within him as he saw that the city wash[Isa. 2:8] full of idols. 17 SoiSee ch. 13:5 he 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,j[1 Cor. 4:10] “What does this babbler wish to say? ” Others said, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities ” —becausekSee ch. 5:42 he was preachinglver. 31, 32; ch. 4:2; [1 Cor. 15:12] Jesus and the resurrection. 19 And they took hold of him and brought him tomver. 22; [ver. 34] the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what thisnMark 1:27; [John 7:16; Heb. 13:9] new teaching is that you are presenting? 20 For you bring someo1 Pet. 4:4, 12; [Hos. 8:12] 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 would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new.
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,p[John 4:22; 1 Cor. 15:34] ‘To the unknown god. ’p[John 4:22; 1 Cor. 15:34] What therefore you worshipq[ver. 30] as unknown, this I proclaim to you.
24 rIsa. 42:5; See ch. 14:15 The God who made the world and everything in it, beingsMatt. 11:25; [Deut. 10:14; Ps. 115:16] Lord of heaven and earth,tSee ch. 7:48 does not live in temples made by man,
25 nor is he served by human hands,uPs. 50:8-12; [1 Chr. 29:14, 16; Job 22:2] as though he needed anything, since he himselfv1 Tim. 6:17; James 1:5, 17 gives to all mankindwGen. 2:7; 7:22; Job 33:4; [Job 27:3; Eccles. 12:7; Zech. 12:1]; See ver. 28 life and breath and everything.
26 Andx[Gen. 3:20; Mal. 2:10] he made from one man every nation of mankind to liveyGen. 11:8; Luke 21:35 on all the face of the earth,z[Job 12:23; 14:5] having determined allotted periods andaDeut. 32:8; [Ps. 74:17] the boundaries of their dwelling place,
27 b[ch. 15:17] that they should seek God, in the hope thatc[Job 23:3, 8, 9] they might feel their way toward him and find him.d[Deut. 4:7; Ps. 145:18; Jer. 23:23, 24]; See ch. 14:17 Yet he is actually not far from each one of us,
28 for
eJob 12:10; Dan. 5:23; [Heb. 2:11] ‘In him we live and move and have our being ’; as even some off[Titus 1:12] your own poets have said,
‘For we are indeed his offspring. ’
29 g[Luke 3:38; Heb. 12:9] Being then God's offspring,hIsa. 40:18, 19, 25; 46:5; [Rom. 1:23] we 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 iEph. 4:18; 1 Pet. 1:14; [ver. 23] The times of ignorancej[Rom. 3:25]; See ch. 14:16 God overlooked, butk[Mark 1:15; Titus 2:11, 12; 1 Pet. 4:3] now helMark 6:12 commands all people everywhere to repent, 31 because he has fixedmMatt. 12:36; Rom. 2:16; 1 Cor. 3:13; 2 Pet. 2:9; 1 John 4:17; [Isa. 2:12] a day on whichn2 Tim. 4:8; See ch. 10:42 he will judge the worldoPs. 9:8; 96:13; 98:9; 1 Pet. 2:23; [Rom. 3:6] in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; andp[John 16:10, 11; Rom. 1:4] of this he has given assurance to allqSee ch. 2:24 by raising him from the dead. ”
32 Now when they heard ofrHeb. 6:2; See ver. 18 the resurrection of the dead,s[ch. 2:13; 26:8] some mocked. But others said,tch. 24:25 “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 Dionysiusuver. 19, 22 the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.