OrthJBC - Acts - 17

17:1  Now having passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, Rav Sha'ul and Sila came to Thessalonica, where there was a shul.

17:2  And as he did bekvius (regularly), Rav Sha'ul joined their minyan, and on shloshah Shabbatot, he gave them drashot from the Kitvei HaKodesh,

17:3  making a Messianic midrash (homiletical interpretation of the Scriptures) and giving the pshat (rationale) for the innuyim of Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach, that it was necessary for him to suffer and to stand up alive from the Mesim, saying, "This one is the Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach, this Yehoshua whom I am proclaiming to you."

17:4  And some of them were persuaded and were being mishtatef (joined, become involved) in a chavurah with Rav Sha'ul and Sila, as did a large number of yirei Elohim (Yevanim) and not a few of the chashuve nashim.

17:5  And the Yehudim without emunah, being filled with kinah, and having rounded up from the people of the market the gornisht and the no goodniks, and having formed a mob, were throwing the city into an uproar. And the crowd was seeking to bring out Moshiach's Shluchim and throw them to the mob, so they attacked the bais of Jason.

17:6  But not having found the Moshiach's Shluchim, they were dragging Jason and some other Achim b'Moshiach to the city manhigim, shouting, "These ones, who have been turning the Olam Hazeh upside down, have come here also!

17:7  "And Jason is the one who has received them into his bais! And all these ones are acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is king other than Caesar, this Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach Yehoshua!"

17:8  And they stirred up the mob and also the city manhigim who heard them saying these things.

17:9  And having taken the bond money from Jason and the rest, they released them. THE MOSHIACH SHLUCHIM AT BEREA, WHERE THE PEOPLE ARE "MORE NOBLE" BECAUSE THESE ARE JEWISH PEOPLE WHO DO A FRESH CHAZORA (REVIEW) OF THE KITVEI HAKODESH TO SEE IF, ACCORDING TO THE PRINCIPLE OF SOLA SCRIPTURA, WHAT IS IN THE DRASHA OF RAV SHA'UL IS ALSO IN THE KITVEI HAKODESH

17:10  And, immediately during the lailah, the Achim b'Moshiach sent both Rav Sha'ul and Sila to Berea. When Moshiach's Shluchim arrived, they joined the minyan in the shul.

17:11  But these Bereans were more noble-minded than the Thessalonians. The Berean Yehudim received the dvar Hashem with all readiness, yom yom (daily) making a chazora (review) and examining and horiva over (analyzing) the Kitvei HaKodesh, to see if these things might be so. [Devarim 29:29]

17:12  Therefore, many of them became Messianic Jews, and also of the chashuve Yevanim, not a few nashim and anashim came to emunah.

17:13  But when the Yehudim without emunah from Thessalonica realized that also in Berea the dvar Hashem was being proclaimed by Rav Sha'ul, they came also to Berea, agitating and stirring up mobs.

17:14  And immediately, then, the Achim b'Moshiach sent away Rav Sha'ul to go as far as to the sea, but both Sila and Timotiyos remained in Berea.

17:15  Now the ones escorting Rav Sha'ul brought him as far as Athens, and after receiving instructions to have Sila and Timotiyos come to Rav Sha'ul in Athens as quickly as possible, the ones escorting him departed. RAV SHA'UL PREACHING TO THE BATLANIM (TIME WASTERS) THAT KRATZ AROUND AT ATHENS; ALSO AT THE AREOPAGUS, A LOW HILL NORTHWEST OF THE ACROPOLIS, WHERE, ON STONE SEATS, THE COUNCIL OF ATHENS MET (INCLUDING A COUNCIL MEMBER DIONYSIUS); RAV SHA'UL QUOTES POETRY AND USES THE ARTS IN AVODAS KODESH SERVICE OF THE BESURAS HAGEULAH, THOUGH SOME OF THE GREEKS STUPIDLY THINK HE IS SPEAKING IN HIS DRASHA ABOUT GREEK DEITIES, ONE OF THEM NAMED "ANASTASIS" (RESURRECTION)

17:16  And awaiting them in Athens, the ruach of Rav Sha'ul was being distressed within him as he observed the city being full of elilim.

17:17  Therefore, Rav Sha'ul was dialoguing and arguing in the shul with the Yehudim and with the yirei Elohim and also in the marketplace yom yom with the ones who happened to be there.

17:18  Also some of the Apikoros (Epicurean) and Stoic philosophers started conversing with Rav Sha'ul, and some were saying, "What might this babbler wish to say?" And others said, "He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign deities." They said this because of what Rav Sha'ul was proclaiming: Yehoshua and the Techiyas HaMesim.

17:19  And having taken hold of Rav Sha'ul, they brought him to the Areopagus, saying, "Are we able to have da'as of what this new teaching is, which is being spoken by you?

17:20  "For some surprising things you bring to our hearing. Therefore, we desire to have da'as of what these things mean."

17:21  Now all the Athenians and the visiting foreigners and tourists in Athens used to spend time doing nothing but speaking and hearing about the latest novelty in the news.

17:22  And Rav Sha'ul, taking his stand in the middle of the Areopagus, said, "Anashim, Athenians, with respect to everything how very religious (dati, chared) indeed I observe you to be.

17:23  "For passing through and looking carefully at your objects of worship, I found also an altar on which had been inscribed `To the unknown g-d.' Therefore, what you worship without da'as, this I proclaim to you.

17:24  "Hashem, the One having made HaOlam and all the things in it, this One being Adon HaShomayim vaHaAretz, does not dwell in temples made by human hands. [Yeshayah 42:5 Devarim 10:14; Yeshayah 66:1; Melachim Alef 8:27]

17:25  "Nor is Hashem served by human hands, as if Hashem were in need of something, since he gives to all Chayyim and breath and everything. [Tehillim 50:10-12; Yeshayah 42:5]

17:26  "And Hashem made from one ancestor every nation of anashim dwelling pnei kol haAretz. And Hashem has set the zmanim and the fixed boundaries of their habitations, [Devarim 32:8; Iyov 12:23]

17:27  "so that they would seek G-d, if efsher (perhaps) they might grope for him and might find him, though Hashem is not far from each one of us. [Devarim 4:7; Yeshayah 55:6; Yirmeyah 23:23.24]

17:28  "For `we live in him and in him we move and have our being,' as also some of your poets have said, `For we are all his offspring.' [Devarim 30:20; Iyov 12:10; Daniel 5:23' Epimenides; Aratus]

17:29  "Therefore, being offspring of Hashem, we ought not to think that Hashem's essence is like gold or silver or stone, a tzelem (image) made by the skill and thought of bnei Adam. [Yeshayah 40:18-20]

17:30  While Hashem has disregarded and let pass the Am HaAretz times, now, however, Hashem proclaims to kol bnei Adam everywhere to make teshuva, REBBE, MELECH HAMOSHIACH IS THE DAYAN (JUDGE) APPOINTED FOR THE YOM HADIN IN THE SUPREME BETH DIN IN SHOMAYIM WHEN HASHEM WILL JUDGE THE OLAM HAZEH

17:31  "because he set a day in which he is about to bring MISHPAT (Tehillim 9:8) on the Olam Hazeh in tzedek [Daniel 9:25] by an ISH (Zecharyah 6:12) whom he appointed, having furnished proof to all by having made him to stand up alive again from the Mesim." [Tehillim 9:8; 96:13; 98:9; Yeshayah 53:11 Megillot Yam HaMelah (Dead Sea Scrolls)]

17:32  And when they heard of the Techiyas HaMesim, some were mocking Rav Sha'ul. But others said, "We will hear you again about this."

17:33  Thus did Rav Sha'ul go out from the midst of them.

17:34  And some anashim became mishtatef to Rav Sha'ul, in that they had emunah, among whom were both Dionysius, a member of the Athenian Council of the Areopagus, and an isha by name Damaris, and others with them.