Uproar in Thessalonica
1They traveled through Amphipolis and Apollonia and came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue. 2As was his custom, Paul went in to them, and for three Sabbaths he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3opening them up and setting out the proof that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead. “This Jesus whom I proclaim to you,” he said, “is the Christ.” 4Some of them were convinced and joined Paul and Silas, along with a great many devout Greeks and a good number of the leading women. 5But the Jews grew jealous. They rounded up some worthless characters from the marketplace, formed a mob and set the city in an uproar. They stormed Jason’s house, looking to bring them out to the assembly; 6and when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city magistrates, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here too, 7and Jason has taken them in. They all defy Caesar’s decrees, saying there is another king, Jesus.” 8The crowd and the magistrates were disturbed at hearing this, 9and only after taking bail from Jason and the others did they let them go.
The Bereans search the Scriptures
10That very night the brothers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea, and on arriving there they went to the Jewish synagogue. 11These people were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica: they welcomed the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see whether it was so. 12Many of them believed, and so did a good number of prominent Greek women and men. 13But when the Jews of Thessalonica learned that Paul was proclaiming the word of God in Berea as well, they came there too, stirring up the crowds and inciting them. 14The brothers immediately sent Paul off toward the coast, while Silas and Timothy stayed behind. 15Those escorting Paul took him as far as Athens, and then went back with instructions for Silas and Timothy to join him as soon as possible.
Paul in Athens
16While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, his spirit was stirred within him at the sight of a city full of idols. 17So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout, and every day in the marketplace with whoever happened to be there. 18Some Epicurean and Stoic philosophers argued with him. “What is this scavenger of ideas trying to say?” said some. Others said, “He seems to be a herald of foreign divinities” — because he was announcing the good news of Jesus and the resurrection. 19So they took hold of him and brought him to the Areopagus. “May we know what this new teaching of yours is?” they said. 20“You are bringing strange things to our ears, and we want to know what they mean.” 21(All the Athenians and the foreigners living among them spent their time on nothing but telling or hearing the latest idea.)
The unknown god
22Paul stood up in the middle of the Areopagus and said: “Athenians, I see that in every way you are extremely religious. 23As I walked around looking at the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: ‘To an unknown god.’ What you worship without knowing it, that is what I proclaim to you. 24The God who made the world and everything in it, the Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines built by hands, 25nor is he served by human hands as though he needed anything: he himself gives everyone life and breath and all things. 26From one man he made every nation of humankind to live over the whole face of the earth, fixing the appointed seasons and the boundaries of their dwelling, 27so that they might seek God, feeling their way toward him and finding him — though in fact he is not far from any one of us. 28For in him we live and move and have our being. As some of your own poets have said: ‘We are also his offspring.’ 29So, being God’s offspring, we ought not to imagine that the divine is like gold or silver or stone, shaped by human craft and imagination. 30God overlooked such times of ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 31for he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world with justice by a man he has appointed. Of this he has given proof to everyone by raising him from the dead.” 32When they heard about resurrection from the dead, some sneered, but others said, “We will hear you on this another time.” 33At that Paul left them. 34But some men joined him and believed, among them Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others with them.
