17 Paul and Silas went through the cities of Amphipolis and Apollonia. Then they reached the town of Thessalonica. Here the Jews had a meeting place.

² As he had done in other places, Paul went into it. On three Sabbath days he explained what was written in the holy writings.

³ He proved these things from the writings. He said. `It was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise again from death. And this Jesus, whom I am talking about, is the Christ.'

⁴ Some of the people believed him and they followed Paul and Silas. Some of them were Greek people who worshipped God. And some were leading women.

⁵ But some Jews did not believe, and they were jealous. So they called some of the bad men together and made a crowd. They started to fight and to make plenty of trouble and noise in the city. At Jason's house they went in by force to find Paul and Silas. They wanted to bring them outside to the people.

⁶ But they did not find them. So they took Jason and some of the Christian brothers to the rulers of the city. They shouted, `These men have turned the world upside down. Now they have come here also.

⁷ Jason has taken them into his house. None of them obeys the laws of Caesar. They say there is another king named Jesus.'

⁸ All the people and the rulers of the city became angry when they heard this.

⁹ They made Jason and the other Christians pay much money. Then they let them go.

¹⁰ That night the Christian brothers sent Paul and Silas to the town of Berea. When they reached there, they went into the Jews' meeting place.

¹¹ The people in Berea were better than the people of Thessalonica. They were glad to listen to Paul's words. Every day they studied the holy writings to see if what Paul said was right.

¹² Through this, many of them believed. Some of the leading women of the Greek people and some of the men also believed.

¹³ The leaders of the Jews in Thessalonica heard that Paul told the word of God to the people at Berea. They came to Berea and talked to the people. They said things that made the people very angry against Paul.

¹⁴ The Christian brothers sent Paul to the seaside right away. But Silas and Timothy stayed on at Berea.

¹⁵ The men took Paul to the city of Athens. Paul told them to tell Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as they could.

¹⁶ Paul was waiting for Silas and Timothy at Athens. He saw that the city was full of idols. His spirit was troubled about this.

¹⁷ In the meeting place he talked with the Jews and those who believed in the true God. In the market every day, he talked to people he met there.

¹⁸ There were some wise men who believed the teachings of Epicurius. They believed the teaching of other wise men called Stoics. Some of them began to talk with Paul. And some said, `What does this talker have to say?' Others said, `He seems to be talking about new gods.' This was because he was telling them about Jesus and how he was raised from death.

¹⁹ So they took Paul and brought him to a meeting at the hill called Areopagus. They said, `We want to know what this new teaching is that you are talking about.

²⁰ You are telling us things we never heard before. We want to understand them.'

²¹ All the people of Athens and the strangers who lived there passed their time in one way. They liked to tell and to hear some new thing.

²² Then Paul stood up in the court and said, `You men of Athens, I see that you are very religious and worship many gods.

²³ As I walked about, I looked at the things you worship. I saw one place where you make sacrifices. You have written on it, "To the God we do not know." You are worshipping that God, but you do not know him. I will tell you about him.

²⁴ He made the world and everything in it. He is the Lord of the sky and the earth. He does not live in houses that people make with their hands.

²⁵ Men cannot worship him by things they make with their hands because he does not need anything. He is the one who gives life and breath and everything else to all people.

²⁶ God made one man. From that one man he has made all the nations of men to live on the whole earth. He has given to each nation a certain time and a certain place to live.

²⁷ He did this so they would look for him. He wanted them to reach out and find him. But he is not far from each one of us.

²⁸ In him we live, and move, and are alive. Some of your own writers have said, "We have come from him".

²⁹ `Therefore we have all come from God. So we should not think that God is something made of gold, or silver, or stone. He is not made by men's hands.

³⁰ In times past God did not look at what people did. They did not know any better then. But now he is calling all people to stop doing those things.

³¹ God has set a day when he will judge the whole world in the right way. He has chosen a man to do this. He has proved to all people who the man is. He has raised him from death.'

³² When the people of Athens heard that someone had been raised from death, some of them laughed. Others said, `We want to hear you talk about this matter again some time.'

³³ So then Paul left them.

³⁴ But some men followed him and believed. Among those who believed was Dionysius. He was a judge in the Areopagus court. And a woman named Damaris believed. There were others also.