¹⁵ Those who escorted Paul brought him to Athens^(A) and then left with instructions for Silas and Timothy to join him as soon as possible.^(B)

²² Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus^(A) and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious.^{(B) 23} For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship^(C)—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.

²⁴ “The God who made the world and everything in it^(D) is the Lord of heaven and earth^(E) and does not live in temples built by human hands.^{(F) 25} And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.^{(G) 26} From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands.^{(H) 27} God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.^{(I) 28} ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’^[a](J) As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’^[b]

²⁹ “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill.^{(K) 30} In the past God overlooked^(L) such ignorance,^(M) but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.^{(N) 31} For he has set a day when he will judge^(O) the world with justice^(P) by the man he has appointed.^(Q) He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”^(R)

³² When they heard about the resurrection of the dead,^(S) some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.” ³³ At that, Paul left the Council. ³⁴ Some of the people became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus,^(T) also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others.

In Corinth

18 After this, Paul left Athens^(U) and went to Corinth.^{(V) 2} There he met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla,^(W) because Claudius^(X) had ordered all Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them, ³ and because he was a tentmaker as they were, he stayed and worked with them.^{(Y) 4} Every Sabbath^(Z) he reasoned in the synagogue,^(AA) trying to persuade Jews and Greeks.

⁵ When Silas^(AB) and Timothy^(AC) came from Macedonia,^(AD) Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah.^{(AE) 6} But when they opposed Paul and became abusive,^(AF) he shook out his clothes in protest^(AG) and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads!^(AH) I am innocent of it.^(AI) From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”^(AJ)

⁷ Then Paul left the synagogue and went next door to the house of Titius Justus, a worshiper of God.^{(AK) 8} Crispus,^(AL) the synagogue leader,^(AM) and his entire household^(AN) believed in the Lord; and many of the Corinthians who heard Paul believed and were baptized.

Psalm 148

¹² “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear.^{(A) 13} But when he, the Spirit of truth,^(B) comes, he will guide you into all the truth.^(C) He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. ¹⁴ He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. ¹⁵ All that belongs to the Father is mine.^(D) That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”

The Disciples’ Grief Will Turn to Joy

¹⁶ Jesus went on to say, “In a little while^(E) you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me.”^(F)

¹⁷ At this, some of his disciples said to one another, “What does he mean by saying, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me,’^(G) and ‘Because I am going to the Father’?”^{(H) 18} They kept asking, “What does he mean by ‘a little while’? We don’t understand what he is saying.”

¹⁹ Jesus saw that they wanted to ask him about this, so he said to them, “Are you asking one another what I meant when I said, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me’? ²⁰ Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn^(I) while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy.^(J)