16. And awaiting them in Athens, the ruach of Rav Sha'ul was being distressed within him as he observed the city being full of elilim.
17. Therefore, Rav Sha'ul was dialoguing and arguing in the shul with the Yehudim and with the yirei Elohim and also in the marketplace yom yom [street preaching] to the ones who happened to be there.
18. Also some of the Apikoros (Epicurean) and Stoic philosophers started conversing with Rav Sha'ul, and some were saying, "What might this babbler wish to say?" And others said, "He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign deities." They said this because of what Rav Sha'ul was proclaiming: Yehoshua and the Techiyas HaMesim.
19. And having taken hold of Rav Sha'ul, they brought him to the Areopagus, saying, "Are we able to have da'as of what this new teaching is, which is being spoken by you?
20. "For some surprising things you bring to our hearing. Therefore, we desire to have da'as of what these things mean."
21. Now all the Athenians and the visiting foreigners and tourists in Athens used to spend time doing nothing but shmoozing about the latest novelty in the news.
22. And Rav Sha'ul, taking his stand in the middle of the Areopagus, said, "Anashim, Athenians, with respect to everything how very religious indeed I observe you to be.
23. "For passing through and looking carefully at your objects of worship, I found also an altar on which had been inscribed 'To the unknown g-d.' Therefore, what you worship without da'as, this I proclaim to you.
24. "Hashem, the One having made HaOlam and all the things in it, this One being Adon HaShomayim vaHaAretz, does not dwell in temples made by human hands. [Isa 42:5 Dt 10:14; Isa 66:1; 1Kgs 8:27]
25. "Nor is Hashem served by human hands, as if Hashem were in need of something, since He gives to all Chayyim and breath and everything. [Ps 50:10-12; Isa 42:5]