rsv Acts:17:15-34 SEEK
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Those who conducted Paul brought him as far as Athens ;
and receiving a command for Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as possible ,
they departed .
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Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens ,
his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols .
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So he argued in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons ,
and in the market place every day with those who chanced to be there .
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Some also of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers met him .
And some said , "
What would this babbler say ?"
Others said , "
He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities "--
because he preached Jesus and the resurrection .
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And they took hold of him and brought him to the Are-op '
agus ,
saying , "
May we know what this new teaching is which you present ?
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For you bring some strange things to our ears ;
we wish to know therefore what these things mean ."
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Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new .
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So Paul ,
standing in the middle of the Are-op '
agus ,
said : "
Men of Athens ,
I perceive that in every way you are very religious .
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For as I passed along ,
and observed the objects of your worship ,
I found also an altar with this inscription , `
To an unknown god .'
What therefore you worship as unknown ,
this I proclaim to you .
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The God who made the world and everything in it ,
being Lord of heaven and earth ,
does not live in shrines made by man ,
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nor is he served by human hands ,
as though he needed anything ,
since he himself gives to all men life and breath and everything .
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And he made from one every nation of men to live on all the face of the earth ,
having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their habitation ,
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that they should seek God ,
in the hope that they might feel after him and find him .
Yet he is not far from each one of us ,
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for `
In him we live and move and have our being ';
as even some of your poets have said , `
For we are indeed his offspring .'
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Being then God '
s offspring ,
we ought not to think that the Deity is like gold ,
or silver ,
or stone ,
a representation by the art and imagination of man .
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The times of ignorance God overlooked ,
but now he commands all men everywhere to repent ,
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because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed ,
and of this he has given assurance to all men by raising him from the dead ."
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Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead ,
some mocked ;
but others said , "
We will hear you again about this ."
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So Paul went out from among them .
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But some men joined him and believed ,
among them Dionys '
ius the Are-op '
agite and a woman named Dam '
aris and others with them .