Acts 17:16-34
Revised Geneva Translation
16 Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, when he saw the idolatry in the city, his spirit was pricked within him.
17 Therefore he disputed daily - with the Jews in the synagogue, with the religious, and in the marketplace - with whomever he met.
18 Then some Epicurean and Stoic philosophers disputed with him. And some said, “What will this babbler say?” Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of strange gods.” (because he preached Jesus to them, and the resurrection.)
19 And they took him, and brought him to Mars’ Hill, saying, “May we know what this new doctrine is of which you speak?
20 “For you bring some strange things to our ears. Therefore, we want to know what these things mean.”
21 For all the Athenians (and strangers who dwelt there) gave themselves to nothing else but either telling or hearing something new.
22 Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars’ Hill, and said, “Men of Athens! I perceive that in all things you are very fearful of gods.
23 “For as I passed by and observed your objects of worship, I found an altar whereupon was written, ‘TO THE UNKNOWN GOD’. Him then, Whom you ignorantly worship, I proclaim to you.
24 “God - Who made the world and all things that therein are - seeing that He is Lord of Heaven and Earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands.
25 “Nor is He worshipped with man’s hands as though He needed anything (seeing He gives life to all, and breath, and all things).
26 “And He has made, from one blood, all nations of mankind to dwell on all the face of the earth; and has assigned the seasons (which were pre-ordained) and the boundaries of their dwellings,
27 “so that they should seek the Lord; that perhaps they might have groped after Him and found Him. Though doubtless He is not far from each one of us.
28 “For in Him we live, and move, and have our being, as some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His family’.
29 “Therefore, since we are the family of God, we ought not to think that the Divine is like gold, or silver, or stone, sculpted by art and the invention of man.
30 “God, having overlooked these times of ignorance, now admonishes all mankind, everywhere, to repent.
31 “Because He has appointed a Day on the which He will judge the world in righteousness by that Man Whom He has appointed. He has given us all this assurance by raising Him from the dead.”
32 Now when they had heard of the resurrection from the dead, some mocked. And others said, “We will hear from you again about this.”
33 And so Paul departed from among them.
34 But some men joined Paul and believed. Among them were Dionysius Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.
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