1 And having passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. VP
2 And according to the custom of Paul, he went in to them, and on three Sabbaths he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, VP
3 opening and setting forth that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise out from [the] dead, and that “this is the Christ—Jesus whom I proclaim to you⁺.” VP
4 And some of them were persuaded and joined themselves to Paul and to Silas—also a great multitude of the worshiping Greeks and not a few of the principal women. VP
5 But the Jews, having become jealous and having taken along certain wicked men of the market-loungers and having gathered a crowd, were setting the city in an uproar. And having assailed the house of Jason, they were seeking them to bring out to the people. VP
6 But not having found them, they were dragging Jason and certain brothers before the city rulers, crying out, “These ones, having upset the world, have come here also, VP
7 whom Jason has received. And these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying another to be king—Jesus!” VP
8 And they stirred up the crowd and the city rulers hearing these things. VP
9 And having taken security from Jason and the rest, they released them. VP
10 And the brothers sent away both Paul and Silas immediately by night to Berea, who, having arrived, went into the synagogue of the Jews. VP
11 Now these, who were more noble than those in Thessalonica, received the word with all readiness, every day examining the Scriptures, if these things were so. VP
12 Therefore many of them indeed believed, and not a few of the prominent Grecian women and men. VP
13 But when the Jews from Thessalonica knew that in Berea the word of God also was proclaimed by Paul, they came there also, stirring up and agitating the crowds. VP
14 And then immediately the brothers sent forth Paul to go as far as to the sea. And both Silas and Timothy remained there. VP
15 And those escorting Paul brought [him] as far as Athens, and having received a command to Silas and Timothy that as quickly as possible they should come to him, they departed. VP
16 Now in Athens, Paul waiting for them, his spirit was provoked in him, seeing the city to be utterly idolatrous. VP
17 Therefore indeed he was reasoning in the synagogue with the Jews and those worshiping, and in the marketplace on every day with those meeting. VP
18 And also some of the Epicureans and Stoics, philosophers, were encountering him, and some were saying, “What may this seed-picker desire to say?” but others, “He seems to be a proclaimer of strange demons,” because he was proclaiming the gospel—Jesus and the resurrection. VP
19 And having taken hold of him, they brought [him] to the Areopagus, saying, “Are we able to know what this new teaching [is] that is spoken by you? VP
20 For you are bringing some strange things to our ears. We resolve, therefore, to know what these things desire to be.” VP
21 Now all [the] Athenians and the visiting strangers spent their time on nothing other than to say something and to hear something new. VP
22 And Paul, having stood in [the] midst of the Areopagus, was saying, “Men, Athenians, in all things I perceive you⁺ as very religious. VP
23 For passing through and examining your⁺ objects of worship, I even found an altar on which had been inscribed: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore whom you⁺ worship without knowing, this I proclaim to you⁺. VP
24 The God having made the world and all things that [are] in it, this [One], being Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in hand-made temples, VP
25 nor is He served by hands of men, needing anything—He [who] gives to all life and breath and all things. VP
26 And He made out of one [man] every nation of men to dwell upon all the face of the earth, having determined [the] appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, VP
27 to seek God, if perhaps indeed they might feel after Him and might find Him—and indeed, He is not far from each one of us. VP
28 ‘For in Him we live and move and are.’ As also some of the poets among you⁺ have said, ‘For we are also [His] offspring.’ VP
29 Therefore, being offspring of God, we ought not to consider the Divine Being to be like gold or silver or stone, a graven thing of man’s craft and imagination. VP
30 Indeed, therefore, having overlooked the times of ignorance, God now commands all men everywhere to repent, VP
31 because He set a day in which He is about to judge the world in righteousness by [a] Man whom He appointed, having provided a guarantee to all, having raised Him out from [the] dead.” VP
32 Now having heard of a resurrection of [the] dead, some indeed were mocking, but some said, “We will hear you concerning this again also.” VP
33 Thus Paul went out from their midst. VP
34 But some men, having joined themselves to him, believed, among whom also [were] Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them. VP