Paul in Athens

16 While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, his spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was full of idols. 17 So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout Greeks, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. 18 Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers [fn]also conversed with him. Some said, “What is this babbler trying to say?” But others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign deities.” (They said this because he was [fn]preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.) 19 So they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is that yoʋ are presenting? 20 For yoʋ are bringing some strange things to our ears, and we would like to know what they mean.” 21 (Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who dwelt there would spend their time in nothing else but talking about [fn]and listening to whatever the newest idea might be.)

22 Paul then stood before the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I see just how religious you are in every way. 23 For as I was going around and closely observing yoʋr objects of worship, I even found an altar that had been inscribed: ‘To an unknown god.’ I proclaim to you therefore [fn]the one whom you worship in ignorance. 24 The God who made the world and everything in it, who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made by hands, 25 neither is he served by [fn]the hands of men, as though he needed anything. Rather, he himself [fn]continually gives life and breath to all mankind. 26 From one [fn]bloodline he created every nation of mankind to dwell on the entire face of the earth. He determined their [fn]appointed times and the boundaries of where they would dwell, 27 so that they might seek [fn]the Lord and perhaps feel their way toward him [fn]and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. 28 For in him we live and move and have our being, as even some of your own poets have said:

‘For we also are his offspring.’

29 Being then the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold, silver, or stone, an image formed by the skill and imagination of man. 30 Therefore, having overlooked the times of ignorance, God now commands all people everywhere to repent, 31 because he has set a day on which he is going to judge the world in righteousness by a man he has appointed. He has provided assurance of this to everyone by raising this man from the dead.”

32 Now when they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some began to scoff, but others said, “We wish to hear about this from yoʋ again.” 33 So Paul departed from them, 34 but some of the people joined him and believed, among whom were Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others with them.