Acts 17:16-21

English Standard Version

Paul in Athens

¹⁶Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was ^(A)provoked within him as he saw that the city was ^(B)full of idols. ¹⁷So ^(C)he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. ¹⁸Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him. And some said, ^(D)“What does this babbler wish to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities”—because ^(E)he was preaching ^(F)Jesus and the resurrection. ¹⁹And they took him and brought him to ^(G)the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this ^(H)new teaching is that you are presenting? ²⁰For you bring some ^(I)strange things to our ears. We wish to know therefore what these things mean.” ²¹Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new.

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Proverbs 21:9-16

English Standard Version

⁹It is ^(A)better to live in a corner of the housetop
    than in a house shared with a quarrelsome wife.
¹⁰The soul of the wicked desires evil;
    his neighbor finds no mercy in his eyes.
¹¹When ^(B)a scoffer is punished, the simple becomes wise;
    when a wise man is instructed, he gains knowledge.
¹²The Righteous One ^(C)observes the house of the wicked;
    he throws the wicked down to ruin.
¹³^(D)Whoever closes his ear to the cry of the poor
    will himself call out and not be answered.
¹⁴^(E)A gift in secret averts anger,
    and a concealed bribe,^[a] strong wrath.
¹⁵When justice is done, it is a joy to the righteous
    ^(F)but terror to evildoers.
¹⁶One who wanders from the way of good sense
    ^(G)will rest in the assembly of the dead.