¹⁹ since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.^(A)

¹⁶ In the past, he let^(A) all nations go their own way.^{(B) 17} Yet he has not left himself without testimony:^(C) He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons;^(D) he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy.”^(E)

²⁰ For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made,^(A) so that people are without excuse.^(B)

²³ For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship^(A)—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.

²⁴ “The God who made the world and everything in it^(B) is the Lord of heaven and earth^(C) and does not live in temples built by human hands.^{(D) 25} And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.^{(E) 26} From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands.^{(F) 27} God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.^{(G) 28} ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’^[a](H) As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’^[b]

²⁹ “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill.^{(I) 30} In the past God overlooked^(J) such ignorance,^(K) but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.^(L)