[Acts 17]

 

             {52 AD. Thessalonica, Berea. Preaching in Macedonia.}

             ^17:1 Now they traveled through Amphipolis and Apollonia, and came to Thessalonica, where there was the synagogue of the Jews. ^17:2 Now according-to his custom, Paul entered to them and upon three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures ^17:3 (opening and placing before them) that it was essential for the Christ to suffer and to rise^* up from the dead, and that this Jesus, whom I Paul am proclaiming to you^°, is the Christ. ^17:4 And some out-of them obeyed and had adhered to Paul and Silas and a large multitude of the pious Greeks, and not just a few of the foremost women.

             ^17:5 But the disobedient Jews took for themselves some evil men from among the market-loafers and amassed a crowd, (the city was in an uproar) who stood up against the house of Jason and they were seeking to lead them into the public court. ^17:6 Now they did not find them and were dragging Jason and some brethren in front of the city rulers, crying, These men who have unsettled the inhabited-earth are also presently here, ^17:7 whom Jason has accepted and all these practice things adverse to the decrees of Caesar, saying a different one to be king, a Jesus. ^17:8 Now hearing these things, they disturbed the crowd and city rulers, ^17:9 and they took sufficient money from Jason and the rest and released them.

 

             ^17:10 Now the brethren immediately sent out both Paul and Silas through the night to Berea, who, after they came^* there, were going-forth into the synagogue of the Jews. ^17:11 Now these Jews were noble more than the ones in Thessalonica, those who accepted the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures every day, to see if these things hold up so. ^17:12 Therefore indeed, many out-of them believed; also not just a few of the Greeks from the prominent women and men. ^17:13 Now as the Jews from Thessalonica knew that the word of God was also proclaimed by Paul in Berea, they also went there, shaking up the crowds. ^17:14 Now the brethren then immediately sent out Paul to travel, like upon the sea, but both Silas and Timothy were remaining back there.

 

             {52-53 AD. Paul at Athens, Greece.}

             ^17:15 But the ones standing over Paul led him to Athens and took a commandment to Silas and Timothy in-order-that they might come to him as quickly as possible, and were going-out there.

 

             ^17:16 Now while Paul is waiting for them in Athens, the spirit was being irritated in him, while viewing the idol ridden city. ^17:17 Therefore indeed, he was reasoning in the synagogue with the Jews and with the pious ones, and every day in the marketplace with the ones who chance by him. ^17:18 Now also some of the Epicureans and Stoic philosophers were confronting him and some were saying, Whatever does this babbler wish to say?

             Some said, He seems to be a proclaimer of strange demons {i.e., gods to the Greeks}, because he is proclaiming the good-news of Jesus and the resurrection.

             ^17:19 And they grabbed him and led him upon the Areopagus, saying, Are we able to know what this new teaching is, which is spoken by you? ^17:20 For^* you are bringing some surprising things to our ears. Therefore, we plan to know whatever these things might wish to be {i.e., mean}. ^17:21 (Now all from Athens and the inhabiting strangers as they were having opportunity ^*for nothing other than to tell and to hear something new.)

             ^17:22 Now Paul stood in the middle of the Areopagus and was saying, Men of Athens, I view you^° as being religious according-to all things. ^17:23 For^* while going through the city and reviewing your^° worshiped objects, I also found an altar in which had been written, To An Unknown God. Therefore, I am proclaiming to you^°, who are ignorant, this one to whom you^° are devout. ^17:24 The God, who made^* the world and all things in it, this one being^* Lord of heaven and earth, is not dwelling in handmade temples, ^17:25 nor is he assisted by men’s hands, as if needy of anything, he himself giving to all, life and breath in all things. ^17:26 And he made^* out-of one blood every nation of men to dwell upon all the face of the earth, after he determined their appointed seasons and the borders of their residence, ^17:27 that they are to seek the Lord, if then, they might yet grope-after him and might find him, for-sure he is^* {Or: exists} not far from each one of us. ^17:28 For^* we live and are moved and are in him; as some poets also have said according-to you^°, For^* we are also his offspring. {Possible reference to a Stoic poet, Aratus of Soli in Cilicia 270BC or Epimendes 600BC.} ^17:29 Therefore, being^* the offspring of God, we ought not to suppose that the divine^* is similar to gold or silver or stone, or a carved thing from a craft and the contemplation of man. ^17:30 Therefore indeed, God overlooked the times of ignorance. Hereafter, he is commanding all men everywhere to repent, ^17:31 because he has established a future day in which to judge the inhabited-earth in righteousness in the man whom he has determined beforehand and he provided the faith to all when he raised^* him from the dead. {Psa 96:13b, 98:9b}

             ^17:32 Now some heard of the resurrection of the dead, some were sneering, but some said, We will be hearing you concerning this again. ^17:33 And so Paul went forth from the midst of them. ^17:34 But some men believed and joined themselves to him, among whom was also Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman, Damaris by name, and others together-with them.