Acts 17:16-23

New King James Version

The Philosophers at Athens

¹⁶ Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, ^(A)his spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was ^[a]given over to idols. ¹⁷ Therefore he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentile worshipers, and in the marketplace daily with those who happened to be there. ^18 [b]Then certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him. And some said, “What does this ^[c]babbler want to say?”

Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods,” because he preached to them ^(B)Jesus and the resurrection.

¹⁹ And they took him and brought him to the ^[d]Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new doctrine is of which you speak? ²⁰ For you are bringing some strange things to our ears. Therefore we want to know what these things mean.” ²¹ For all the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing.

Addressing the Areopagus

²² Then Paul stood in the midst of the ^[e]Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious; ²³ for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription:

TO THE UNKNOWN GOD.

Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you: