Acts 17

Opposition in Thessalonica Acts 17:5–9

⁵Verse 5. But the unpersuaded Jews took along some wicked men from the marketplace, and gathering a crowd, set the city in an uproar. Assaulting the house of Jason, they sought to bring them out to the people. ⁶Verse 6. When they didn’t find them, they dragged Jason and certain brothers before the rulers of the city, crying, “These who have turned the world upside down have come here also, ⁷Verse 7. whom Jason has received. These all act contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus!” ⁸Verse 8. The multitude and the rulers of the city were troubled when they heard these things.

⁹Verse 9. When they had taken security from Jason and the rest, they let them go.

Berea's Reception Acts 17:10–12

¹⁰Verse 10. The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Beroea. When they arrived, they went into the Jewish synagogue. ¹¹Verse 11. Now these were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so. ¹²Verse 12. Many of them therefore believed; also of the prominent Greek women, and not a few men.

Persecution Follows Acts 17:13–15

¹³Verse 13. But when the Jews of Thessalonica had knowledge that the word of God was proclaimed by Paul at Beroea also, they came there likewise, agitating the multitudes. ¹⁴Verse 14. Then the brothers immediately sent out Paul to go as far as to the sea, and Silas and Timothy still stayed there. ¹⁵Verse 15. But those who escorted Paul brought him as far as Athens. Receiving a commandment to Silas and Timothy that they should come to him very quickly, they departed.

Paul in Athens Acts 17:16–21

¹⁶Verse 16. Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw the city full of idols. ¹⁷Verse 17. So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who met him. ¹⁸Verse 18. Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also were conversing with him. Some said, “What does this babbler want to say?” Others said, “He seems to be advocating foreign deities,” because he preached Jesus and the resurrection. ¹⁹Verse 19. They took hold of him, and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is, which is spoken by you?

²⁰Verse 20. For you bring certain strange things to our ears. We want to know therefore what these things mean.” ²¹Verse 21. Now all the Athenians and the strangers living there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell or to hear some new thing.

Address at the Areopagus Acts 17:22–31

²²Verse 22. Paul stood in the middle of the Areopagus, and said, “You men of Athens, I perceive that you are very religious in all things. ²³Verse 23. For as I passed along, and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.’ What therefore you worship in ignorance, this I announce to you. ²⁴Verse 24. The God who made the world and all things in it, he, being Lord of heaven and earth, doesn’t dwell in temples made with hands, ²⁵Verse 25. neither is he served by men’s hands, as though he needed anything, seeing he himself gives to all life and breath, and all things.

²⁶Verse 26. He made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the surface of the earth, having determined appointed seasons, and the boundaries of their dwellings, ²⁷Verse 27. that they should seek the Lord, if perhaps they might reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. ²⁸Verse 28. ‘For in him we live, and move, and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also his offspring.’ ²⁹Verse 29. Being then the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold, or silver, or stone, engraved by art and design of man.

³⁰Verse 30. The times of ignorance therefore God overlooked. But now he commands that all people everywhere should repent, ³¹Verse 31. because he has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained; of which he has given assurance to all men, in that he has raised him from the dead.”

Reactions to Paul’s Message Acts 17:32–34

³²Verse 32. Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked; but others said, “We want to hear you again concerning this.” ³³Verse 33. Thus Paul went out from among them. ³⁴Verse 34. But certain men joined with him, and believed, among whom also was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.