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Acts 17

1After traveling through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. 2As was his custom, Paul went in to them and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the scriptures, 3explaining and demonstrating that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead. “This Jesus whom I proclaim to you is the Messiah.” 4Some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, along with a large number of worshiping Greeks and not a few of the leading women.

5But the Jews became jealous, took some wicked men from the marketplace, gathered a mob, and threw the city into an uproar. They attacked Jason's house and tried to bring them out to the people. 6When they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some brothers before the city officials, shouting, “These people who have turned the inhabited world upside down have come here too, 7and Jason has welcomed them! They are all acting against Caesar's decrees, saying that there is another king, Jesus.” 8They disturbed the crowd and the city officials who heard these things. 9After taking security from Jason and the others, they released them.

10The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. When they arrived, they went to the synagogue of the Jews. 11These were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica: they received the word with all eagerness, examining the scriptures daily to see whether these things were so. 12Many of them therefore believed, along with not a few prominent Greek women and men. 13But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that the word of God was also being proclaimed by Paul in Berea, they came there too, shaking up and disturbing the crowds. 14Then the brothers immediately sent Paul away to go as far as the sea, while Silas and Timothy remained there. 15Those conducting Paul brought him as far as Athens. After receiving instructions for Silas and Timothy to come to him as quickly as possible, they left.

16While Paul waited for them in Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols. 17So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the worshipers, and every day in the marketplace with those who happened to be there. 18Some Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him. Some said, “What could this seed-picker be trying to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign divinities”—because he was announcing the good news of Jesus and the resurrection. 19They took hold of him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are speaking? 20For you are bringing some strange things to our ears, and we want to know what they mean.” 21Now all the Athenians and the foreigners staying there spent their time on nothing other than telling or hearing something newer.

22Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I see that in every respect you are very religious. 23For as I went through and examined your objects of worship, I even found an altar inscribed, ‘To an unknown god.’ What you worship in ignorance, then, I proclaim to you. 24The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in sanctuaries made by hands. 25Nor is he served by human hands as though he needed anything, since he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything. 26From one he made every nation of humanity to live on the whole face of the earth, determining their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, 27so that they would seek God, if perhaps they might feel their way toward him and find him—though he is not far from each one of us. 28For in him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we too are his offspring.’ 29Being God's offspring, then, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an engraving of human skill and thought. 30So God, having overlooked the times of ignorance, now commands all people everywhere to repent, 31because he has set a day on which he will judge the inhabited world in righteousness through a man he has appointed, giving assurance to everyone by raising him from the dead.”

32When they heard of resurrection of the dead, some mocked, but others said, “We will hear you about this again.” 33So Paul went out from among them. 34But some people joined him and believed, including Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others with them.

Translation notes 8

17:2–3 — Scriptures and the Messiah. The necessity of the Messiah's suffering and resurrection recalls Luke 24:26, 46. The wording changes from a report to Paul's direct speech. “Reasoned” need not mean a formal philosophical debate.

17:4–9 — Worshipers and accusations. The worshiping Greeks are Gentiles associated with worship of Israel's God. “The Jews” in the confrontation refers to the opponents in this local scene, not all Jewish people; Paul and many believers are Jewish. The charge about another king belongs to the accusers. The city officials received financial security before releasing Jason and the others.

17:11 — Noble-minded. The context describes readiness to hear coupled with examination of the scriptures, rather than higher social birth.

17:18 — Seed-picker. An insulting image for someone who picks up scraps of ideas and repeats them without understanding; “babbler” is a familiar rendering. “Divinities” reflects the philosophers' vocabulary, not an endorsement of other gods. They may have misunderstood “resurrection” as the name of a divinity, but the text does not explicitly say so.

17:19, 22, 34 — Areopagus. The name can refer to the hill or its council. “Areopagite” identifies Dionysius as a member of that council. The wording does not decide whether this was a formal trial.

17:22–23 — Religious and unknown. “Very religious” can carry a critical undertone; “superstitious” is also possible. The contrast between an unknown god and worship in ignorance is preserved. The Greek base says “what,” not “whom.”

17:26–29 — One and offspring. “From one” leaves the source's implied referent unstated; “from one man” is a natural interpretation. Some witnesses add “blood.” The offspring image concerns humanity's origin and dependence on God in this argument, without identifying people with a crafted image of God.

17:30–34 — Judgment and response. Repentance, righteousness, and resurrection remain explicit. “Assurance” here expresses grounds for confidence, not a statement that everyone has already come to faith. The final group includes Damaris, so “people” reflects the context of the Greek expression.