17:16 While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, 10 his spirit was greatly upset 11 because he saw 12 the city was full of idols. 17:17 So he was addressing 13 the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles 14 in the synagogue, 15 and in the marketplace every day 16 those who happened to be there. 17:18 Also some of the Epicurean 17 and Stoic 18 philosophers were conversing 19 with him, and some were asking, 20 “What does this foolish babbler 21 want to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods.” 22 (They said this because he was proclaiming the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.) 23 17:19 So they took Paul and 24 brought him to the Areopagus, 25 saying, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are proclaiming? 17:20 For you are bringing some surprising things 26 to our ears, so we want to know what they 27 mean.” 17:21 (All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there used to spend their time 28 in nothing else than telling 29 or listening to something new.) 30
17:22 So Paul stood 31 before the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I see that you are very religious 32 in all respects. 33 17:23 For as I went around and observed closely your objects of worship, 34 I even found an altar with this inscription: 35 ‘To an unknown god.’ Therefore what you worship without knowing it, 36 this I proclaim to you. 17:24 The God who made the world and everything in it, 37 who is 38 Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by human hands, 39 17:25 nor is he served by human hands, as if he needed anything, 40 because he himself gives life and breath and everything to everyone. 41 17:26 From one man 42 he made every nation of the human race 43 to inhabit the entire earth, 44 determining their set times 45 and the fixed limits of the places where they would live, 46 17:27 so that they would search for God and perhaps grope around 47 for him and find him, 48 though he is 49 not far from each one of us. 17:28 For in him we live and move about 50 and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we too are his offspring.’ 51 17:29 So since we are God’s offspring, we should not think the deity 52 is like gold or silver or stone, an image 53 made by human 54 skill 55 and imagination. 56 17:30 Therefore, although God has overlooked 57 such times of ignorance, 58 he now commands all people 59 everywhere to repent, 60 17:31 because he has set 61 a day on which he is going to judge the world 62 in righteousness, by a man whom he designated, 63 having provided proof to everyone by raising 64 him from the dead.”
17:32 Now when they heard about 65 the resurrection from the dead, some began to scoff, 66 but others said, “We will hear you again about this.” 17:33 So Paul left the Areopagus. 67 17:34 But some people 68 joined him 69 and believed. Among them 70 were Dionysius, who was a member of the Areopagus, 71 a woman 72 named Damaris, and others with them.