Acts 17:18-31
1599 Geneva Bible
18 [a]Then certain Philosophers of the Epicureans, and of the Stoics, disputed with him, and some said, What will this [b]babbler say? Others said, He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods (because he preached unto them Jesus, and the resurrection.)
19 And they took him, and brought him into [c]Mars’ street, saying, May we not know, what this new doctrine, whereof thou speakest, is?
20 For thou bringest certain strange things unto our ears: we would know therefore what these things mean.
21 [d]For all the Athenians and strangers which dwelt there, gave themselves to nothing else, but either to tell, or to hear some news.
22 [e]Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars’ street, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too [f]superstitious.
23 For as I passed by, and beheld your [g]devotions, I found an altar wherein was written, UNTO THE [h]UNKNOWN GOD. Whom ye then ignorantly worship, him show I unto you.
24 [i]God that made the world, and all things that are therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, (A)dwelleth not in temples made with hands.
25 (B)Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed anything, seeing he giveth to all life and breath and all things,
26 [j]And hath made of [k]one blood all mankind, to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath assigned the seasons which were ordained before, and the bounds of their habitation,
27 That they should seek the Lord, if so be they might have [l]groped after him, and found him, though doubtless he be not far from every one of us.
28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being, as also certain of your own Poets have said: For we are also his generation.
29 (C)Forasmuch then, as we are the generation of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone [m]graven by art and the invention of man.
30 [n]And the time of this ignorance God regarded not: but now he admonisheth all men everywhere to repent.
31 Because he hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness, by that man whom he hath appointed, whereof he hath given an [o]assurance to all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Acts 17:18 Two sects especially of the Philosophers do set themselves against Christ: the Epicureans, which make a mock and scoff at all religions, and the Stoics, which determine upon matters of religion according to their own brains.
- Acts 17:18 Word for word, seed gatherer: a borrowed kind of speech taken of birds which spoil corn, and is applied to them which without all art bluster out such knowledge as they have gotten by hearing this man and that man.
- Acts 17:19 This was a place called as you would say, Mars hill, where the judges sat which were called Areopagus, upon weighty affairs, which in old time arraigned Socrates, and afterward condemned him of impiety.
- Acts 17:21 The wisdom of man is vanity.
- Acts 17:22 The idolaters themselves minister most strong and forcible arguments against their own superstition.
- Acts 17:22 To stand in too peevish and servile a fear of your gods.
- Acts 17:23 Whatsoever men worship for religion’s sake, that we call devotion.
- Acts 17:23 Pausanias in his Atticis, maketh mention of the altar which the Athenians had dedicated to unknown gods: and Laertius in his Epimenides maketh mention of an altar that had no name entitled.
- Acts 17:24 It is a most foolish and vain thing to compare the Creator with the creature, to limit him within a place, which can be comprehended in no place, and to think to allure him with gifts, of whom all men have received all things whatsoever they have: And these are the fountains of all idolatry.
- Acts 17:26 God is wonderful in all his works, but especially in the work of man: not that we should stand amazed at his works, but that we should lift up our eyes to the workman.
- Acts 17:26 Of one stock and one beginning.
- Acts 17:27 For as blind men we could not seek out God, but only by groping wise, before the true light came and lightened the world.
- Acts 17:29 Which stuff, as gold, silver, stones, are customably graven as a man’s wit can devise, for men will not worship that gross stuff as it is, unless by some art it have gotten some shape upon it.
- Acts 17:30 The oldness of the error doth not excuse them that err, but it commendeth and setteth forth the patience of God: who notwithstanding will be a just judge to such as contemn him.
- Acts 17:31 By declaring Christ to be the judge of the world through the resurrection from the dead.
Geneva Bible, 1599 Edition. Published by Tolle Lege Press. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations in articles, reviews, and broadcasts.
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