MKJV - Acts - 17

17:1  And traveling through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews.

17:2  And according to Paul's custom, he went in to them and reasoned with them out of the Scriptures on three sabbaths,

17:3  opening and setting forth that Christ must have suffered, and to have risen again from the dead; and that this Jesus whom I preach to you is Christ.

17:4  And some of them believed and joined themselves to Paul and Silas, both a great multitude of the worshiping Greeks, and not a few of the chief women.

17:5  But the disobeying Jews becoming jealous, and having taken aside some wicked men of the market-loafers, and gathering a crowd, they set all the city in an uproar. And coming on the house of Jason, they sought to bring them out to the mob.

17:6  And not finding them, they drew Jason and certain brothers before the city judges, crying, These who have turned the world upside down have come here too,

17:7  whom Jason has received. And these all act contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.

17:8  And hearing these things, they troubled the crowd and the city judge.

17:9  And taking security from Jason and from the rest, they let them go.

17:10  And the brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. They, when they arrived, went into the synagogue of the Jews.

17:11  And these were more noble than those of Thessalonica, in that they received the Word with all readiness of mind and searched the Scriptures daily to see if those things were so.

17:12  Therefore many of them believed, and quite a few of honorable Greek women and men.

17:13  But when the Jews from Thessalonica knew that the Word of God was preached by Paul at Berea, they came there also and stirred up the people.

17:14  And then immediately the brothers sent Paul away to go towards the sea, but both Silas and Timothy stayed there.

17:15  And those conducting Paul brought him to Athens. And receiving a command to Silas and Timothy to come to him with all speed, they departed.

17:16  But awaiting them in Athens, Paul's spirit was pained within him, seeing city full of idols.

17:17  Then indeed he addressed the Jews in the synagogue, and those worshiping, and daily in the market, to those happening to be there.

17:18  And certain philosophers from the Epicureans and from the Stoics met him. And some said, What will this babbler say? And others said, He seems to be an announcer of foreign demons (because he preached Jesus and the resurrection to them).

17:19  And taking hold of him, they led him to the Areopagus, saying, Are we able to know what is this new doctrine of which you speak?

17:20  For you bring certain strange things to our ears, therefore we are minded to know what these things mean.

17:21  (For all the Athenians and strangers who were there spent their time in nothing else except to tell or to hear something newer.)

17:22  And standing in the middle of the Areopagus, Paul said, Men, Athenians, I see that you are fearful of gods in everything.

17:23  For as I passed by and saw the things you worship, I also found an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Not knowing then whom you worship, I make Him known to you.

17:24  The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of Heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands.

17:25  Nor is served with men's hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives life and breath and all things to all.

17:26  And He has made all nations of men of one blood to dwell on all the face of the earth, ordaining fore-appointed seasons and boundaries of their dwelling,

17:27  to seek the Lord, if perhaps they might feel after Him and find Him, though indeed He is not far from each one of us.

17:28  For in Him we live and move and have our being, as also certain of your own poets have said, For we are also His offspring.

17:29  Then being offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like gold or silver or stone, engraved by art and man's imagination.

17:30  Truly, then, God overlooking the times of ignorance, now He strictly commands all men everywhere to repent,

17:31  because He has appointed a day in which He is going to judge the world in righteousness by a Man whom He appointed, having given proof to all by raising Him from the dead.

17:32  And hearing of a resurrection of the dead, some indeed mocked; and others said, We will hear you again concerning this.

17:33  And so Paul departed from among them.

17:34  But certain men joined themselves to him and believed; among whom were Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.