Act 17 | Murd | STEP | And they passed through the cities of Amphipolis and Apollonia, and came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews.

‏ Acts 17

1 And they passed through the cities of Amphipolis and Apollonia, and came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews. 2 And Paul, as was his custom, went in to them; and during three sabbaths he discoursed with them from the scriptures; 3 expounding and showing, that the Messiah was to suffer, and to arise from the dead, and that this Jesus whom I announce to you is the Messiah. 4 And some of them believed, and adhered to Paul and Silas; and of those Greeks who feared God, a great many; and also of noted women, not a few. 5 But the Jews were indignant, and gathered to themselves evil men from the marketplace of the city, and formed a great mob; and they alarmed the city, and came and assaulted the house of Jason, and sought to draw them from it, and to deliver them up to the mob. 6 And when they found them not there, they drew Jason and the brethren who were there, and brought them before the chiefs of the city, crying out: These are they who have terrified all the country; and lo, they have come hither also: 7 and this Jason is their entertainer: and they all resist the commands of Caesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus. 8 And the chiefs of the city and all the people, were alarmed when they heard these things. 9 And they took sureties from Jason, and also from the brethren, and then released them. 10 And the brethren immediately, on the same night, sent away Paul and Silas to the city of Berea. And when they came there, they entered into the synagogue of the Jews. 11 For the Jews there were more liberal than the Jews of Thessalonica; and they gladly heard the word from them daily, and searched from the scriptures whether these things were so. 12 And many of them believed; and so likewise of the Greeks, many men, and women of note. 13 And when the Jews of Thessalonica had knowledge that the word of God was preached by Paul in the city of Berea, they came thither also, and they ceased not to excite and alarm the people. 14 And the brethren sent away Paul, that he might go down to the sea. But Silas and Timothy abode in that city. 15 And they who conducted Paul, went with him to the city of Athens. And when they departed from him, they received an epistle from him to Silas and Timothy, that they should come to him speedily. 16 And while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, he was pained in his spirit; because he saw that the whole city was full of idols. 17 And in the synagogue he spoke with the Jews, and with those that feared God, and in the market-place with them who daily assembled there. 18 And also philosophers of the sect of Epicureans, and others who were called Stoics, disputed with him. And one and another of them said: What doth this word-monger mean? Others said: He announceth foreign deities; because he preached to them Jesus and his resurrection. 19 And they took him and brought him to the place of judgments called Areopagus, and said to him: May we know what this new doctrine which thou preachest is? 20 For thou scatterest in our ears strange words; and we wish to know what they are. 21 For all the Athenians and the foreigners residing there, cared for nothing else but to tell or to hear something new. 22 And as Paul stood in the Areopagus, he said: Men, Athenians, I perceive that in all things ye are excessive in the worship of demons. 23 For, as I was rambling about, and viewing the temples of your worship, I met with an altar, on which was inscribed, TO THE HIDDEN GOD. Him, therefore, whom ye worship while ye know him not, the very same I announce to you. 24 For the God who made the world and all that is in it, and who is Lord of heaven and of earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands. 25 Nor is he ministered to by human hands, neither hath he any wants; for he it is giveth life and breath to every man. 26 And of one blood hath he made the whole world of men, that they might dwell on the face of all the earth: and he hath separated the seasons by his ordinance; and hath set bounds to the residence of men: 27 that they might inquire and search after God, and, by means of his creations, might find him; because he is not afar off from each one of us: 28 for in him it is we live, and move, and exist: as one of your own wise men hath said: From him is our descent. 29 Therefore we, whose descent is from God, ought not to suppose that the Deity hath the likeness of gold, or silver, or stone, sculptured by the art and skill of men 30 And the times of this error God hath made to pass away; and at the present time, he commandeth all men, that each individual, in every place, should repent. 31 Because he hath appointed a day, in which he will judge all the earth, with righteousness, by the man whom he hath designated: and he turneth every man to faith in him, in that he raised him from the dead. 32 And when they heard of the resurrection from the dead, some of them ridiculed, and others of them said: At another time, we will hear thee on this matter. 33 And so Paul departed from among them. 34 And some of them adhered to him, and believed; one of these was Dionysius from among the judges of Areopagus, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.