⁵ When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was occupied with proclaiming the word,^[a] testifying to the Jews that the Messiah^[b] was Jesus.^(A)

²⁸ for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the scriptures that the Messiah^[a] is Jesus.^(A)

³ explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Messiah^[a] to suffer and to rise from the dead and saying, “This is the Messiah,^[b] Jesus whom I am proclaiming to you.”^(A)

¹⁴ For the love of Christ urges us on, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died.^(A)

²¹ as I testified to both Jews and Greeks about repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus.^[a](A)

¹⁴ The spirit lifted me up and bore me away; I went in bitterness in the heat of my spirit, the hand of the Lord being strong upon me.^(A)

²³ I am hard pressed between the two: my desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better,^(A)

¹⁴ Then the brothers and sisters immediately sent Paul away to the coast, but Silas and Timothy remained behind. ¹⁵ Those who conducted Paul brought him as far as Athens, and, after receiving instructions to have Silas and Timothy join him as soon as possible, they left him.^(A)

Paul in Athens

¹⁶ While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was deeply distressed to see that the city was full of idols.^(B)

²² Saul became increasingly more powerful and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus^[a] was the Messiah.^[b](A)