Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

²² Then Paul stood up in the court and said, `You men of Athens, I see that you are very religious and worship many gods.

²³ As I walked about, I looked at the things you worship. I saw one place where you make sacrifices. You have written on it, "To the God we do not know." You are worshipping that God, but you do not know him. I will tell you about him.

²⁴ He made the world and everything in it. He is the Lord of the sky and the earth. He does not live in houses that people make with their hands.

²⁵ Men cannot worship him by things they make with their hands because he does not need anything. He is the one who gives life and breath and everything else to all people.

²⁶ God made one man. From that one man he has made all the nations of men to live on the whole earth. He has given to each nation a certain time and a certain place to live.

²⁷ He did this so they would look for him. He wanted them to reach out and find him. But he is not far from each one of us.

²⁸ In him we live, and move, and are alive. Some of your own writers have said, "We have come from him".

²⁹ `Therefore we have all come from God. So we should not think that God is something made of gold, or silver, or stone. He is not made by men's hands.

³⁰ In times past God did not look at what people did. They did not know any better then. But now he is calling all people to stop doing those things.

³¹ God has set a day when he will judge the whole world in the right way. He has chosen a man to do this. He has proved to all people who the man is. He has raised him from death.'

³² When the people of Athens heard that someone had been raised from death, some of them laughed. Others said, `We want to hear you talk about this matter again some time.'

³³ So then Paul left them.

³⁴ But some men followed him and believed. Among those who believed was Dionysius. He was a judge in the Areopagus court. And a woman named Damaris believed. There were others also.