17:1 Now when they had passed through Amphipolis, and Apollonia,
they came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews.
17:2 And Paul, as his manner was, went in to them, and on three
sabbaths reasoned with them out of the scriptures,
17:3 Opening and alledging, that it was needful that Christ
should suffer, and rise again from the dead; and that this
Jesus, whom I preach to you, is Christ.
17:4 And some of them believed, and consorted with Paul and
Silas: and of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the
chief women not a few.
17:5 But the Jews who believed not, moved with envy, took to
them certain vile fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a
company, and set all the city in an uproar, and assaulted the
house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people.
17:6 And when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain
brethren to the rulers of the city, crying, These that have
turned the world upside down, have come hither also;
17:7 Whom Jason hath received: and these all do contrary to the
decrees of Cesar, saying, That there is another king, [one]
Jesus.
17:8 And they troubled the people, and the rulers of the city,
when they heard these things.
17:9 And when they had taken security of Jason and of the other,
they let them go.
17:10 And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by
night to Berea: who coming [thither], went into the synagogue
of the Jews.
17:11 These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that
they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched
the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.
17:12 Therefore many of them believed; also of honorable women
who were Greeks, and of men not a few.
17:13 But when the Jews of Thessalonica had knowledge that the
word of God was preached by Paul at Berea, they came thither
also, and stirred up the people.
17:14 And then immediately the brethren sent away Paul, to go as
it were to the sea: but Silas and Timothy abode there still.
17:15 And they that conducted Paul brought him to Athens: and
receiving a commandment to Silas and Timothy to come to him
with all speed, they departed.
17:16 Now, while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was
stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry.
17:17 Therefore he disputed in the synagogue with the Jews, and
with the devout persons, and in the market daily with them that
met with him.
17:18 Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans, and of the
Stoics, encountered him. And some said, What will this babbler
say? some others, He seemeth to be a setter-forth of strange
gods: because he preached to them Jesus, and the resurrection.
17:19 And they took him, and brought him to Areopagus, saying,
May we know what this new doctrine [is], of which thou
speakest?
17:20 For thou bringest certain strange things to our ears; we
would know therefore what these things mean.
17:21 (For all the Athenians and strangers who were there, spent
their time in nothing else, but either to tell, or to hear some
new thing.)
17:22 Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars-hill, and said, [Ye]
men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too
superstitious.
17:23 For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an
altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore
ye ignorantly worship, him declare I to you.
17:24 God that made the world, and all things therein, seeing
that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples
made with hands;
17:25 Neither is worshiped with men's hands, as though he needed
any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all
things;
17:26 And hath made of one blood all nations of men to dwell on
all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before
appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;
17:27 That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel
after him, and find him, though he is not far from every one of
us:
17:28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as
certain also of your own poets have said, for we are also his
offspring.
17:29 Being then the offspring of God, we ought not to think
that the Godhead is like to gold, or silver, or stone graven by
art and man's device.
17:30 And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now
commandeth all men every where to repent:
17:31 Because he hath appointed a day, in which he will judge
the world in righteousness, by [that] man whom he hath
ordained: [of which] he hath given assurance to all [men], in
that he hath raised him from the dead.
17:32 And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some
mocked: and others said, We will hear thee again concerning
this [matter].
17:33 So Paul departed from among them.
17:34 But certain men adhered to him, and believed: among whom
[was] Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and
others with them.
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