17:16 While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, 12 his spirit was greatly upset 13 because he saw 14 the city was full of idols. 17:17 So he was addressing 15 the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles 16 in the synagogue, 17 and in the marketplace every day 18 those who happened to be there. 17:18 Also some of the Epicurean 19 and Stoic 20 philosophers were conversing 21 with him, and some were asking, 22 “What does this foolish babbler 23 want to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods.” 24 (They said this because he was proclaiming the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.) 25 17:19 So they took Paul and 26 brought him to the Areopagus, 27 saying, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are proclaiming? 17:20 For you are bringing some surprising things 28 to our ears, so we want to know what they 29 mean.” 17:21 (All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there used to spend their time 30 in nothing else than telling 31 or listening to something new.) 32
17:22 So Paul stood 33 before the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I see that you are very religious 34 in all respects. 35 17:23 For as I went around and observed closely your objects of worship, 36 I even found an altar with this inscription: 37 ‘To an unknown god.’ Therefore what you worship without knowing it, 38 this I proclaim to you. 17:24 The God who made the world and everything in it, 39 who is 40 Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by human hands, 41 17:25 nor is he served by human hands, as if he needed anything, 42 because he himself gives life and breath and everything to everyone. 43 17:26 From one man 44 he made every nation of the human race 45 to inhabit the entire earth, 46 determining their set times 47 and the fixed limits of the places where they would live, 48 17:27 so that they would search for God and perhaps grope around 49 for him and find him, 50 though he is 51 not far from each one of us. 17:28 For in him we live and move about 52 and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we too are his offspring.’ 53 17:29 So since we are God’s offspring, we should not think the deity 54 is like gold or silver or stone, an image 55 made by human 56 skill 57 and imagination. 58 17:30 Therefore, although God has overlooked 59 such times of ignorance, 60 he now commands all people 61 everywhere to repent, 62 17:31 because he has set 63 a day on which he is going to judge the world 64 in righteousness, by a man whom he designated, 65 having provided proof to everyone by raising 66 him from the dead.”
17:32 Now when they heard about 67 the resurrection from the dead, some began to scoff, 68 but others said, “We will hear you again about this.” 17:33 So Paul left the Areopagus. 69 17:34 But some people 70 joined him 71 and believed. Among them 72 were Dionysius, who was a member of the Areopagus, 73 a woman 74 named Damaris, and others with them.