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    Acts · 34 verses

    Acts 17

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    Athens had an altar for an unknown god, and Paul treated the uncertainty not as a dead end but as an introduction.

    Synagogues, uproar, and a night departurevv. 1–15

    Paul and Silas pass through Amphipolis and Apollonia to Thessalonica, where Paul spends three Sabbaths reasoning from the Scriptures. Some Jews, many God-fearing Greeks, and several leading women join them; then jealousy recruits troublemakers from the marketplace, and Jason’s house is raided in a splendidly unsuccessful search. The charge against the visitors is that they have turned the world upside down and speak of another king, Jesus. Jason is made to post bond, and after nightfall Paul and Silas are sent on to Berea. There, the hearers examine the Scriptures every day—a rather serious welcome for a message that has already caused a city-wide commotion. When trouble follows from Thessalonica, Paul is sent to the coast while Silas and Timothy remain behind; escorts bring Paul to Athens.

    The city of ideas and the altar with a useful inscriptionvv. 16–23

    While waiting in Athens, Paul is deeply disturbed by a city full of idols, so he reasons in the synagogue, in the marketplace, and with Epicurean and Stoic philosophers. Athens is described with wonderfully little fuss as a place where Athenians and resident foreigners spend their time doing nothing more than hearing and articulating new ideas. The philosophers bring Paul to the Areopagus because his teaching sounds strange, and Paul begins with the most convenient inscription in the city: an altar marked “TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.” The unknown, in his hands, becomes an opening for proclamation.

    A speech, a split response, and a small companyvv. 24–34

    At the Areopagus Paul speaks of the God who made the world, gives life and breath, and is not confined to temples made by human hands. He moves from humanity’s common origin to the call to seek God, then from divine offspring to the absurdity of imagining the Divine Being as gold, silver, or stone. He announces a day of judgment by the appointed Man and points to the resurrection as proof. The audience divides at once: some mock, some postpone the matter for another hearing, and Paul leaves. Yet the ending is not empty. Dionysius the Areopagite, Damaris, and others join him and believe.

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    Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.

    1. Acts 17:1When they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue.

    2. Acts 17:2As was his custom, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbaths he reasoned with them from the Scriptures,

    3. Acts 17:3explaining and proving that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead. “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Christ,” he declared.

    4. Acts 17:4Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, along with a large number of God-fearing Greeks and quite a few leading women.

    5. Acts 17:5The Jews, however, became jealous. So they brought in some troublemakers from the marketplace, formed a mob, and sent the city into an uproar. They raided Jason’s house in search of Paul and Silas, hoping to bring them out to the people.

    6. Acts 17:6But when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some other brothers before the city officials, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have now come here,

    7. Acts 17:7and Jason has welcomed them into his home. They are all defying Caesar’s decrees, saying that there is another king, named Jesus!”

    8. Acts 17:8On hearing this, the crowd and city officials were greatly disturbed.

    9. Acts 17:9And they collected bond from Jason and the others and then released them.

    10. Acts 17:10As soon as night had fallen, the brothers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. On arriving there, they went into the Jewish synagogue.

    11. Acts 17:11Now the Bereans were more noble-minded than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if these teachings were true.

    12. Acts 17:12As a result, many of them believed, along with quite a few prominent Greek women and men.

    13. Acts 17:13But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that Paul was also proclaiming the word of God in Berea, they went there themselves to incite and agitate the crowds.

    14. Acts 17:14The brothers immediately sent Paul to the coast, but Silas and Timothy remained in Berea.

    15. Acts 17:15Those who escorted Paul brought him to Athens and then returned with instructions for Silas and Timothy to join him as soon as possible.

    16. Acts 17:16While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was deeply disturbed in his spirit to see that the city was full of idols.

    17. Acts 17:17So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and God-fearing Gentiles, and in the marketplace with those he met each day.

    18. Acts 17:18Some Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also began to debate with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others said, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was proclaiming the good news of Jesus and the resurrection.

    19. Acts 17:19So they took Paul and brought him to the Areopagus, where they asked him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting?

    20. Acts 17:20For you are bringing some strange notions to our ears, and we want to know what they mean.”

    21. Acts 17:21Now all the Athenians and foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing more than hearing and articulating new ideas.

    22. Acts 17:22Then Paul stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I see that in every way you are very religious.

    23. Acts 17:23For as I walked around and examined your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore what you worship as something unknown, I now proclaim to you.

    24. Acts 17:24The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples made by human hands.

    25. Acts 17:25Nor is He served by human hands, as if He needed anything, because He Himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.

    26. Acts 17:26From one man He made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their lands.

    27. Acts 17:27God intended that they would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us.

    28. Acts 17:28‘For in Him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are His offspring.’

    29. Acts 17:29Therefore, being offspring of God, we should not think that the Divine Being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by man’s skill and imagination.

    30. Acts 17:30Although God overlooked the ignorance of earlier times, He now commands all people everywhere to repent.

    31. Acts 17:31For He has set a day when He will judge the world with justice by the Man He has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising Him from the dead.”

    32. Acts 17:32When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some began to mock him, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this topic.”

    33. Acts 17:33At that, Paul left the Areopagus.

    34. Acts 17:34But some joined him and believed, including Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others who were with them.

    01 — Also here

    Who else the chapter reaches

    Names written in the English are linked in the text above. These are the ones that are not: an entity the Hebrew or Greek names under a spelling the translation does not use, or one reached only by an assertion about a verse of this chapter.

    Named in the Hebrew or Greek somewhere in this chapter, under a form the English renders differently — the registry's Ludim against the translation's Ludites — so there is no word in the sentence to hang the link on.

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    02 — Read alongside

    Where this is echoed

    Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 474 passages were voted onto 33 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.

    • 28Job 12:10The life of every living thing is in His hand, as well as the breath of all mankind.
    • 28Colossians 1:17He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.
    • 241 Kings 8:27But will God indeed dwell upon the earth? The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain You, much less this temple I have built.
    • 28Hebrews 1:3The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His nature, upholding all things by His powerful word. After He had provided purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
    • 28Psalms 36:9For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light we see light.
    • 26Deuteronomy 32:7–8Remember the days of old; consider the years long past. Ask your father, and he will tell you, your elders, and they will inform you.
    • 24Deuteronomy 10:14Behold, to the LORD your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, and the earth and everything in it.
    • 24Acts 7:48However, the Most High does not dwell in houses made by human hands. As the prophet says:
    • 30Acts 14:16In past generations, He let all nations go their own way.
    • 24Isaiah 66:1This is what the LORD says: “Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool. What kind of house will you build for Me? Or where will My place of repose be?
    • 242 Chronicles 6:18But will God indeed dwell with man upon the earth? The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain You, much less this temple I have built.
    • 11Isaiah 34:16Search and read the scroll of the LORD: Not one of these will go missing, not one will lack her mate, because He has ordered it by His mouth, and He will gather them by His Spirit.
    • 11Proverbs 2:1–5My son, if you accept my words and hide my commandments within you,
    • 28Luke 20:38He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to Him all are alive.”
    • 24Matthew 11:25At that time Jesus declared, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.
    • 11John 5:39You pore over the Scriptures because you presume that by them you possess eternal life. These are the very words that testify about Me,

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