17:16 While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, 1 his spirit was greatly upset 2 because he saw 3 the city was full of idols. 17:17 So he was addressing 4 the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles 5 in the synagogue, 6 and in the marketplace every day 7 those who happened to be there. 17:18 Also some of the Epicurean 8 and Stoic 9 philosophers were conversing 10 with him, and some were asking, 11 “What does this foolish babbler 12 want to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods.” 13 (They said this because he was proclaiming the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.) 14 17:19 So they took Paul and 15 brought him to the Areopagus, 16 saying, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are proclaiming? 17:20 For you are bringing some surprising things 17 to our ears, so we want to know what they 18 mean.” 17:21 (All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there used to spend their time 19 in nothing else than telling 20 or listening to something new.) 21
17:22 So Paul stood 22 before the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I see that you are very religious 23 in all respects. 24 17:23 For as I went around and observed closely your objects of worship, 25 I even found an altar with this inscription: 26 ‘To an unknown god.’ Therefore what you worship without knowing it, 27 this I proclaim to you. 17:24 The God who made the world and everything in it, 28 who is 29 Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by human hands, 30 17:25 nor is he served by human hands, as if he needed anything, 31 because he himself gives life and breath and everything to everyone. 32 17:26 From one man 33 he made every nation of the human race 34 to inhabit the entire earth, 35 determining their set times 36 and the fixed limits of the places where they would live, 37 17:27 so that they would search for God and perhaps grope around 38 for him and find him, 39 though he is 40 not far from each one of us. 17:28 For in him we live and move about 41 and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we too are his offspring.’ 42 17:29 So since we are God’s offspring, we should not think the deity 43 is like gold or silver or stone, an image 44 made by human 45 skill 46 and imagination. 47 17:30 Therefore, although God has overlooked 48 such times of ignorance, 49 he now commands all people 50 everywhere to repent, 51 17:31 because he has set 52 a day on which he is going to judge the world 53 in righteousness, by a man whom he designated, 54 having provided proof to everyone by raising 55 him from the dead.”
17:32 Now when they heard about 56 the resurrection from the dead, some began to scoff, 57 but others said, “We will hear you again about this.” 17:33 So Paul left the Areopagus. 58 17:34 But some people 59 joined him 60 and believed. Among them 61 were Dionysius, who was a member of the Areopagus, 62 a woman 63 named Damaris, and others with them.