17:16 While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, 5 his spirit was greatly upset 6 because he saw 7 the city was full of idols. 17:17 So he was addressing 8 the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles 9 in the synagogue, 10 and in the marketplace every day 11 those who happened to be there. 17:18 Also some of the Epicurean 12 and Stoic 13 philosophers were conversing 14 with him, and some were asking, 15 “What does this foolish babbler 16 want to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods.” 17 (They said this because he was proclaiming the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.) 18 17:19 So they took Paul and 19 brought him to the Areopagus, 20 saying, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are proclaiming? 17:20 For you are bringing some surprising things 21 to our ears, so we want to know what they 22 mean.” 17:21 (All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there used to spend their time 23 in nothing else than telling 24 or listening to something new.) 25
17:22 So Paul stood 26 before the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I see that you are very religious 27 in all respects. 28 17:23 For as I went around and observed closely your objects of worship, 29 I even found an altar with this inscription: 30 ‘To an unknown god.’ Therefore what you worship without knowing it, 31 this I proclaim to you. 17:24 The God who made the world and everything in it, 32 who is 33 Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by human hands, 34 17:25 nor is he served by human hands, as if he needed anything, 35 because he himself gives life and breath and everything to everyone. 36 17:26 From one man 37 he made every nation of the human race 38 to inhabit the entire earth, 39 determining their set times 40 and the fixed limits of the places where they would live, 41 17:27 so that they would search for God and perhaps grope around 42 for him and find him, 43 though he is 44 not far from each one of us. 17:28 For in him we live and move about 45 and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we too are his offspring.’ 46 17:29 So since we are God’s offspring, we should not think the deity 47 is like gold or silver or stone, an image 48 made by human 49 skill 50 and imagination. 51 17:30 Therefore, although God has overlooked 52 such times of ignorance, 53 he now commands all people 54 everywhere to repent, 55 17:31 because he has set 56 a day on which he is going to judge the world 57 in righteousness, by a man whom he designated, 58 having provided proof to everyone by raising 59 him from the dead.”
17:32 Now when they heard about 60 the resurrection from the dead, some began to scoff, 61 but others said, “We will hear you again about this.” 17:33 So Paul left the Areopagus. 62 17:34 But some people 63 joined him 64 and believed. Among them 65 were Dionysius, who was a member of the Areopagus, 66 a woman 67 named Damaris, and others with them.