Acts:17

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* Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia , they came to Thessalonica , where was a synagogue of the Jews : * and Paul , as his custom was , went in to them , and for three Sabbath days reasoned with them from the Scriptures , * opening and alleging that it behooved the Christ to suffer , and to rise again from the dead ; and that Jesus , whom I proclaim to you (note :){+}(:note ), is the Christ . * And some of them were persuaded , and consorted with Paul and Silas , and of the devout Greeks a great multitude , and of the chief women not a few . * But the Jews , being moved with jealousy , took to them certain vile men of the rabble , and gathering a crowd , set the city on an uproar ; and assaulting the house of Jason , they sought to bring them forth to the people . * And when they didn 't find them , they dragged Jason and certain brothers before the rulers of the city , crying out , These who have turned the world upside down have come here also ; * whom Jason has received : and , contrary to the decrees of Caesar , these all take part in another king who they are saying to be Jesus . * And they troubled the multitude and the rulers of the city , when they heard these things . * And when they had taken security from Jason and the rest , they let them go . * And the brothers immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night to Berea : who when they had come there went into the synagogue of the Jews . * Now these were more noble than those in Thessalonica , in that they received the word with all readiness of the mind , examining the Scriptures daily , whether these things were so . * Many of them therefore believed ; also of the Greek women of honorable estate , and of men , not a few . * But when the Jews of Thessalonica had knowledge that the word of God was proclaimed of Paul at Berea also , they came there likewise , stirring up and troubling the multitudes . * And then immediately the brothers sent forth Paul to go as far as to the sea : and Silas and Timothy stayed there still . * But those who conducted Paul brought him as far as Athens : and receiving a commandment to Silas and Timothy that they should come to him with all speed , they departed . * Now while Paul waited for them at Athens , his spirit was provoked inside him as he looked at the city full of idols . * So he reasoned in the synagogue with Jews and the devout persons , and in the marketplace every day with those who met him . * And certain also of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him . And some said , What would this babbler say ? Others , He seems to be a setter forth of strange gods : because he preached [the good news of ] Jesus and the resurrection . * And they took hold of him , and brought him to the Areopagus , saying , May we know what this new teaching is , which is spoken by you ? * For you bring certain strange things to our ears : we would know therefore what these things mean . * (Now all the Athenians and the strangers sojourning there spent their time in nothing else , but either to tell or to hear some new thing .) * And Paul stood among the Areopagus , and said , Men , Atheneans , in all things , I perceive that you (note :){+}(:note ) are very religious . * For as I passed along , and observed the objects of your (note :){+}(:note ) worship , I found also an altar with this inscription , TO AN UNKNOWN GOD . What therefore you {+} worship in ignorance , this I set forth to you {+}. * The God who made the world and all things in it , he , being Lord of heaven and earth , does not dwell in temples made with hands ; * neither is he served by men 's hands , as though he needed anything , seeing he himself gives to all life , and breath , and all things ; * and he made of one every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth , having determined [their ] appointed seasons , and the bounds of their habitation ; * that they should seek God , if perhaps they might feel after him and find him , though he is not far from each one of us : * for in him we live , and move , and have our being ; as certain even of your (note :){+}(:note ) own poets have said , For we are also his offspring . * Being then the offspring of God , we ought not to think that the divine nature is like gold , or silver , or stone , graven by art and device of man . * The times of ignorance therefore God overlooked ; but now he commands men that they should all everywhere repent : * inasmuch as he has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has appointed ; he has given assurance of this to all men , in that he has raised him from the dead . * Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead , some mocked ; but others said , We will hear you concerning this yet again . * Thus Paul went out from among them . * But certain men stuck [close ] to him , and believed : among whom also was Dionysius the Areopagite , and a woman named Damaris , and others with them .

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