³⁰ And when Paul wanted to go in to the people, the disciples would not allow him.

³⁹ But Paul said, ^(A)“I am a Jew from Tarsus, in Cilicia, a citizen of no ^[a]mean city; and I implore you, permit me to speak to the people.”

Addressing the Areopagus

²² Then Paul stood in the midst of the ^[a]Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious; ²³ for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription:

TO THE UNKNOWN GOD.

Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you: ^24 (A)God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is ^(B)Lord of heaven and earth, ^(C)does not dwell in temples made with hands. ²⁵ Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He ^(D)gives to all life, breath, and all things. ²⁶ And He has made from one ^[b]blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and ^(E)the boundaries of their dwellings, ^27 (F)so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, ^(G)though He is not far from each one of us; ²⁸ for ^(H)in Him we live and move and have our being, ^(I)as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’ ²⁹ Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, ^(J)we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising. ³⁰ Truly, ^(K)these times of ignorance God overlooked, but ^(L)now commands all men everywhere to repent, ³¹ because He has appointed a day on which ^(M)He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by ^(N)raising Him from the dead.”

¹⁴ But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard this, ^(A)they tore their clothes and ran in among the multitude, crying out ¹⁵ and saying, “Men, ^(B)why are you doing these things? ^(C)We also are men with the same nature as you, and preach to you that you should turn from ^(D)these useless things ^(E)to the living God, ^(F)who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all things that are in them, ^16 (G)who in bygone generations allowed all nations to walk in their own ways. ^17 (H)Nevertheless He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good, ^(I)gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with ^(J)food and gladness.” ¹⁸ And with these sayings they could scarcely restrain the multitudes from sacrificing to them.

¹⁷ But ^(A)Abishai the son of Zeruiah came to his aid, and struck the Philistine and killed him. Then the men of David swore to him, saying, ^(B)“You shall go out no more with us to battle, lest you quench the ^(C)lamp of Israel.”

² Then David sent out one third of the people under the hand of Joab, ^(A)one third under the hand of Abishai the son of Zeruiah, Joab’s brother, and one third under the hand of ^(B)Ittai the Gittite. And the king said to the people, “I also will surely go out with you myself.”

^3 (C)But the people answered, “You shall not go out! For if we flee away, they will not care about us; nor if half of us die, will they care about us. But you are worth ten thousand of us now. For you are now more help to us in the city.”