1Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. 2And Paul, as his custom was, went in to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3explaining and setting forth that the Christ needed to suffer and rise again from the dead, and that this Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ. 4And some of them were persuaded; and a great multitude of the devout Greeks, and not a few of the leading women, joined Paul and Silas. 5But the Jews who were not persuaded, becoming envious, took some of the baser sort from the marketplace, and gathering a mob, set all the city in an uproar and came upon the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people. 6But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some brethren to the rulers of the city, crying out, These who have turned the world upside down have come here, too; 7whom Jason has received, and these are all acting contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying there is another king, Jesus. 8And they troubled the crowd and the rulers of the city when they heard these things. 9So when they had taken security from Jason and the rest, they let them go. 10Then the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. When they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. 11These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the Word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily, to see whether these things are so. 12Therefore many of them believed, and also not a few of the Greeks, both prominent women and men. 13But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that the Word of God was preached by Paul at Berea, they came there also and stirred up the crowds. 14Then immediately the brethren sent Paul away, to go as though toward the sea; but both Silas and Timothy remained there. 15And those who conducted Paul brought him to Athens; and receiving a command for Silas and Timothy to come to him quickly, they departed. 16Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was given over to idols. 17Therefore he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews, and with the devout, and in the marketplace daily with those who happened to be there. 18Then certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him. And some said, What does this empty talker want to say? And others, He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign demons, because he preached to them Jesus and the resurrection. 19And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, May we know what this new doctrine is, of which you speak? 20For you are bringing some strange things to our ears. Therefore we want to know what these things mean. 21For all the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing. 22Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you fear the gods; 23for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your devotion, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore, the One to whom you show reverence without knowing, Him I proclaim to you: 24God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of Heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. 25Nor is He served with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things. 26And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell everywhere on the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, 27so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; 28for in Him we live and move and exist, as also some of your own poets have said, For we are also His offspring. 29Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine is like gold or silver or stone, something engraved by art and man’s devising. 30Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, 31because He has established a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has appointed. He has given assurance of this to everyone by raising Him from the dead. 32And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some ridiculed, while others said, We will hear you again concerning this matter. 33So Paul departed from their midst. 34However, some men joined him and believed, among them Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others with them.