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Paul and Silas had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue. 2 As was his custom, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3 explaining and proving that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Christ.” 4 Some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, including a large number of God-fearing Greeks, and not a few of the prominent women.
5 But the Jews became jealous, and after they had rounded up some scoundrels from the marketplace and formed a mob, they set the city in an uproar. They launched an assault on Jason’s house, where they searched for Paul and Silas so they could bring them out to the crowd. 6 When they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before some of the city officials, shouting, “These men who are turning the world upside down have now come here too. 7 and Jason has received them as guests! They are all defying Caesar’s decree, saying there is another king, someone called Jesus.” 8 The crowds and the city officials were disturbed when they heard these things. 9 Then they made Jason and the others pay bail, and they released them.
10 As soon as it was night, the brothers sent Paul and Silas off to Berea. On arriving there, they went into the Jewish synagogue. 11 The people of Berea were more receptive than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to find out whether these things were so. 12 Consequently, many of them believed, including a number of prominent Greek women as well as men.
13 But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that the word of God was preached by Paul in Berea, they came there too, stirring up and inciting the crowds. 14 Then the brothers immediately sent Paul away to the coast, but Silas and Timothy stayed on there. 15 The men who escorted Paul brought him to Athens, and after receiving instructions for Silas and Timothy to join him as soon as possible, they departed.
16 While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, his spirit was troubled within him when he saw that the city was full of idols. 17 So he reasoned in the synagogues with the Jews and the other worshippers, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. 18 He also met some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers who argued with him. Some said, “What is this babbler trying to say?”
Others said, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign gods,” because he was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.
19 Then they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, where they said to him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are speaking about? 20 For you are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we would like to know what these things mean.” 21 (All the Athenians and the foreigners living there would spend their time on nothing else but telling or hearing something new.)
22 Then Paul stood in front of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I was walking around and looking carefully at the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription:
What you therefore worship as something unknown, this I am going to proclaim to you.
24 “The God who made the world and everything in it is Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in shrines made by hands. 25 Nor is he served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives everyone life and breath and all things. 26 From one man He has made every nation of men to inhabit the whole earth, and He has determined their appointed times and the boundaries of where they should live. 27 This He has done so they might search for God and perhaps reach out 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, as even some of your poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring’.
29 “Therefore, since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image fashioned by the art and imagination of mortals. 30 In the past God has overlooked these times of ignorance, but now He commands all people everywhere to repent. 31 For He has appointed a day on which He is going to judge the world in righteousness by the Man He has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising Him from the dead.”
32 When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them began to ridicule, but others said, “We want to hear you again about this subject.” 33 At that, Paul went out from their presence. 34 However, some men believed and became followers of Paul, among whom was Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others with them.