Acts 17:14-34

14Then immediately 1the brothers sent Paul out to go as far as the sea; and 2Silas and 3Timothy remained there. 15Now 4those who escorted Paul brought him as far as 5Athens; and receiving a command for 6Silas and Timothy to 7come to him as soon as possible, they left.

16Now while Paul was waiting for them in 8Athens, his spirit was being provoked within him as he observed that the city was full of idols. 17So he was reasoning 9in the synagogue with the Jews and 10the God-fearing Gentiles, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be present. 18And some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers as well were 11conversing with him. Some were saying, “What could 12this 13scavenger of tidbits want to say?” Others, “He seems to be a proclaimer of strange deities,”--because he was preaching 14Jesus and the resurrection. 19And they 15took him and brought him 16to the 1718Areopagus, saying, “May we know what 19this new teaching is 20which you are proclaiming? 20For you are bringing some strange things to our ears; so we want to know what these things mean.” 21(Now all the Athenians and the strangers 21visiting there used to spend their time in nothing other than telling or hearing something new.)

22So Paul stood in the midst of the 22Areopagus and said, “Men of 23Athens, I see that you are very 24religious in all respects. 23For while I was passing through and examining the 25objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription, ‘TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.’ Therefore, what 26you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you. 2427The God who made the world and everything that is in it, since He is 28Lord of heaven and earth, does not 29dwell in temples made by hands; 25nor is He served by human hands, 30as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things; 26and 31He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having 32determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, 27that they would seek God, if perhaps they might feel around for Him and find Him, 33though He is not far from each one of us; 28for 34in Him we live and move and 35exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His descendants.’ 29Therefore, since we are the descendants of God, we 36ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by human skill and thought. 30So having 37overlooked 38the times of ignorance, God is 39now proclaiming to mankind that all people everywhere are to repent, 31because He has set 40a day on which 41He will judge 4243the world in righteousness 44through a Man whom He has 45appointed, having furnished proof to all people 46by 47raising Him from the dead.”

32Now when they heard of 48the resurrection of the dead, some began to scoff, but others said, “We shall hear from you 49again concerning this.” 33So Paul went out from among them. 34But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the 50Areopagite and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.