Chapter 17

1Paul and Silas traveled through Amphipolis and Apollonia and came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue.

2As usual, Paul went into the synagogue. For three Sabbath days, he discussed the Scriptures with the people there.

3He explained and demonstrated from the Scriptures that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead. He said, “This Jesus whom I am telling you about is the Messiah.”

4Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas. So did a large number of Greeks who worshiped God, along with many prominent women.

5But some of the Jews became jealous. They recruited some troublemakers from the marketplace, formed a mob, and threw the city into disorder. They attacked Jason’s house, intending to bring Paul and Silas before the public assembly.

6When they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some other believers before the city officials. They shouted, “These men who have turned the world upside down have now come here too,

7and Jason has welcomed them into his home! They all act against the emperor’s decrees by saying that someone else—Jesus—is king.”

8When the crowd and the city officials heard this, they became alarmed.

9The officials required Jason and the others to pay a security bond, and then they released them.

10That very night, the believers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. When they arrived, they went to the Jewish synagogue.

11The people there were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica. They eagerly accepted the message and examined the Scriptures every day to see whether Paul’s claims were true.

12Many of them came to trust in Jesus. So did a considerable number of respected Greek women and men.

13But when the Jews in Thessalonica learned that Paul was also announcing God’s message in Berea, they went there too. They stirred up the crowds and caused trouble.

14The believers immediately sent Paul toward the coast, while Silas and Timothy remained in Berea.

15Those escorting Paul brought him as far as Athens. Before leaving, they received instructions for Silas and Timothy to join him as soon as possible.

16While Paul waited for them in Athens, he became deeply distressed when he saw that the city was full of idols.

17So he held discussions in the synagogue with Jews and others who worshiped God. Every day he also spoke in the marketplace with anyone who happened to be there.

18Some Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also debated with him. Some asked, “What is this ignorant babbler trying to say?” Others said, “He seems to be promoting foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was announcing the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.

19They took Paul to the Areopagus, Athens’s governing council, and asked, “May we know what this new teaching of yours is?

20You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we want to know what they mean.”

21The Athenians and the foreigners staying there spent their free time doing nothing but telling or hearing the latest idea.

22Paul stood before the Areopagus council and said, “People of Athens, I see that you are very religious in every way.

23As I walked around and carefully examined the objects you worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: ‘To an unknown god.’ What you worship without knowing, I now announce to you.

24“The God who made the world and everything in it is Lord of heaven and earth. He does not live in temples made by human hands.

25Human hands do not serve him because he needs something. He himself gives everyone life, breath, and everything else.

26From one person, he made every nation of humanity to live across the whole earth. He set their appointed times and the boundaries of the places where they would live.

27He did this so that they would search for God and perhaps reach out for him and find him. Yet he is not far from any one of us.

28For in him we live, move, and exist. As some of your own poets have said, ‘We too are his offspring.’

29“Since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold, silver, or stone—an image shaped by human skill and imagination.

30God overlooked those past times of ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to change their minds and turn from their former ways.

31He has set a day when he will judge the world fairly through a man he has appointed. God has given everyone assurance of this by raising that man from the dead.”

32When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some mocked Paul. But others said, “We want to hear you speak about this again.”

33Then Paul left them.

34Some people joined him and came to believe. Among them were Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus council, a woman named Damaris, and others with them.