Acts 17:16-34

Acts 17

In Athens

¹⁶ While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was very distressed to see that the city was full of idols. ¹⁷ So he led a discussion in the synagogue with the Jews and those who feared God, as well as with those who happened to be in the marketplace every day.

¹⁸ Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also debated with him. Some said, “What is this seed picker ^[1] trying to say?” Others said, “He seems to be someone who is proclaiming foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.

¹⁹ They took him and brought him to the council of the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are talking about? ²⁰ You seem to be bringing in some ideas that are strange to our ears, so we want to know what these things mean.” ²¹ (All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there enjoyed doing nothing more than telling or listening to something new.)

²² Then Paul stood up in front of the council of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I see that you are very religious in every way. ²³ For as I was walking around and carefully observing your objects of worship, I even found an altar on which had been inscribed, ‘To an unknown god.’ Now what you worship as unknown—this is what I am going to proclaim to you.

²⁴ “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples made with hands. ²⁵ Neither is he served by human hands, as if he needed anything, since he himself gives all people life and breath and everything they have. ²⁶ From one man, ^[2] he made every nation of mankind to live over the entire face of the earth. He determined the appointed times and the boundaries where they would live. ²⁷ He did this so they would seek God ^[3] and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. ²⁸ ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ ^[4] As some of your own poets have said, ‘Indeed, we are also his offspring.’ ^[5]

²⁹ “Therefore, since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by human skill and planning. ³⁰ Although God overlooked the times of ignorance, he is now commanding all people everywhere to repent, ³¹ because he has set a day on which he is going to judge the world in righteousness by the man he appointed. He provided proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”

³² When they heard about the resurrection from the dead, some of them started to scoff. But others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.” ³³ So Paul left the council. ³⁴ However, some men became followers of Paul and believed. Among them were Dionysius (a member of the council of the Areopagus) and a woman named Damaris, as well as others with them.