7. and Jason has welcomed them. They all act in opposition to the decrees of Caesar and claim instead that there is another king, Jesus.”
8. They stirred up the crowd and the city magistrates who, upon hearing these charges,
9. took a surety payment from Jason and the others before releasing them.
10. The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas to Beroea during the night. Upon arrival they went to the synagogue of the Jews.
11. These Jews were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with all willingness and examined the scriptures daily to determine whether these things were so.
12. Many of them became believers, as did not a few of the influential Greek women and men.
13. But when the Jews of Thessalonica learned that the word of God had now been proclaimed by Paul in Beroea also, they came there too to cause a commotion and stir up the crowds.
14. So the brothers at once sent Paul on his way to the seacoast, while Silas and Timothy remained behind.
15. After Paul’s escorts had taken him to Athens, they came away with instructions for Silas and Timothy to join him as soon as possible.
16. While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he grew exasperated at the sight of the city full of idols.
17. So he debated in the synagogue with the Jews and with the worshipers, and daily in the public square with whoever happened to be there.
18. Even some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers engaged him in discussion. Some asked, “What is this scavenger trying to say?” Others said, “He sounds like a promoter of foreign deities,” because he was preaching about ‘Jesus’ and ‘Resurrection.’
19. They took him and led him to the Areopagus and said, “May we learn what this new teaching is that you speak of?
20. For you bring some strange notions to our ears; we should like to know what these things mean.”
21. Now all the Athenians as well as the foreigners residing there used their time for nothing else but telling or hearing something new.
22. Then Paul stood up at the Areopagus and said:“You Athenians, I see that in every respect you are very religious.
23. For as I walked around looking carefully at your shrines, I even discovered an altar inscribed, ‘To an Unknown God.’ What therefore you unknowingly worship, I proclaim to you.
24. The God who made the world and all that is in it, the Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in sanctuaries made by human hands,
25. nor is he served by human hands because he needs anything. Rather it is he who gives to everyone life and breath and everything.