1 Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was the synagogue of the Jews.
2 And Paul, as his manner was, went in to them, and on three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures,
3 opening and setting forth that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and that "this Jesus, whom I preach to you, is the Christ."
4 And some of them were persuaded and cast in their lot with Paul and Silas, and of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the leading women not a few.
5 But the Jews who did not believe, moved with envy, took to themselves some wicked men of the marketplace, gathered a crowd, and set the city in an uproar; and assaulting the house of Jason, they sought to bring them out to the people.
6 But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some brothers before the rulers of the city, shouting, "These men who have turned the world upside down have come here too,
7 and Jason has received them; and they all act contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus."
8 And they troubled the crowd and the rulers of the city when they heard these things.
9 And when they had taken security from Jason and the rest, they let them go.
10 Then the brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea; and when they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews.
11 Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with all readiness of mind and searched the Scriptures daily whether these things were so.
12 Therefore many of them believed, and of honorable Greek women and of men, not a few.
13 But when the Jews of Thessalonica had knowledge that the word of God was preached by Paul at Berea also, they came there too, stirring up the crowds.
14 Then the brothers immediately sent Paul away to go as it were toward the sea; but Silas and Timothy remained there.
15 And those who conducted Paul brought him as far as Athens; and receiving instruction for Silas and Timothy to come to him with all speed, they departed.
16 Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred within him as he saw the city given over to idols.
17 Therefore he disputed in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace daily with those who met with him.
18 Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans and of the Stoics encountered him. And some said, "What would this babbler say?" Others said, "He seems to be a setter forth of foreign divinities," because he preached to them Jesus and the resurrection.
19 And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, "May we know what this new teaching is, of which you speak?
20 For you bring certain strange things to our ears; we would like to know, therefore, what these things mean."
21 (For all the Athenians and the strangers who were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing.)
22 Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, "Men of Athens, I observe that in all things you are exceedingly religious.
23 For as I passed by and beheld the objects of your worship, I found also an altar on which was inscribed, TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore you worship without knowing him, him I declare to you.
24 God, who made the world and all things in it, since he is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands,
25 nor is he served by men's hands, as though he needed anything, seeing he gives to all life and breath and all things.
26 And he has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined the times appointed beforehand and the bounds of their habitation,
27 so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.
28 For in him we live and move and have our being, as some of your own poets have also said, 'For we are also his offspring.'
29 Since then we are the offspring of God, we ought not to suppose that the Divine is like gold or silver or stone, graven by the art and device of man.
30 Therefore, having overlooked the times of ignorance, God now commands all men everywhere to repent,
31 because he has set a day on which he is going to judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has appointed, having furnished proof of this to all by raising him from the dead."
32 And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, but others said, "We will hear you again on this matter."
33 So Paul went out from among them.
34 However, certain men attached themselves to him and believed, among whom were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.