1 And having passed through Amphipolis, and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was the synagogue of the Jews, 2 and according to the custom of Paul, he went in unto them, and for three sabbaths he was reasoning with them from the Writings, 3 opening and alleging, 'That the Christ it behoved to suffer, and to rise again out of the dead, and that this is the Christ — Jesus whom I proclaim to you.' 4 And certain of them did believe, and attached themselves to Paul and to Silas, also of the worshipping Greeks a great multitude, of the principal women also not a few. 5 And the unbelieving Jews, having been moved with envy, and having taken to them of the loungers certain evil men, and having made a crowd, were setting the city in an uproar; having assailed also the house of Jason, they were seeking them to bring [them] to the populace, 6 and not having found them, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the city rulers, calling aloud — 'These, having put the world in commotion, are also here present, 7 whom Jason hath received; and these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying another to be king — Jesus.' 8 And they troubled the multitude and the city rulers, hearing these things, 9 and having taking security from Jason and the rest, they let them go. 10 And the brethren immediately, through the night, sent forth both Paul and Silas to Berea, who having come, went to the synagogue of the Jews; 11 and these were more noble than those in Thessalonica, they received the word with all readiness of mind, every day examining the Writings whether those things were so; 12 many, indeed, therefore, of them did believe, and of the honourable Greek women and men not a few. 13 And when the Jews from Thessalonica knew that also in Berea was the word of God declared by Paul, they came thither also, agitating the multitudes; 14 and then immediately the brethren sent forth Paul, to go on as it were to the sea, but both Silas and Timothy were remaining there. 15 And those conducting Paul, brought him unto Athens, and having received a command unto Silas and Timotheus that with all speed they may come unto him, they departed; 16 and Paul waiting for them in Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, beholding the city wholly given to idolatry, 17 therefore, indeed, he was reasoning in the synagogue with the Jews, and with the worshipping persons, and in the market-place every day with those who met with him. 18 And certain of the Epicurean and of the Stoic philosophers, were meeting together to see him, and some were saying, 'What would this seed picker wish to say?' and others, 'Of strange demons he doth seem to be an announcer;' because Jesus and the rising again he did proclaim to them as good news, 19 having also taken him, unto the Areopagus they brought [him], saying, 'Are we able to know what [is] this new teaching that is spoken by thee, 20 for certain strange things thou dost bring to our ears? we wish, then, to know what these things would wish to be;' 21 and all Athenians, and the strangers sojourning, for nothing else were at leisure but to say something, and to hear some newer thing. 22 And Paul, having stood in the midst of the Areopagus, said, 'Men, Athenians, in all things I perceive you as over-religious; 23 for passing through and contemplating your objects of worship, I found also an erection on which had been inscribed: To God — unknown; whom, therefore — not knowing — ye do worship, this One I announce to you. 24 'God, who did make the world, and all things in it, this One, of heaven and of earth being Lord, in temples made with hands doth not dwell, 25 neither by the hands of men is He served — needing anything, He giving to all life, and breath, and all things; 26 He made also of one blood every nation of men, to dwell upon all the face of the earth — having ordained times before appointed, and the bounds of their dwellings — 27 to seek the Lord, if perhaps they did feel after Him and find, — though, indeed, He is not far from each one of us, 28 for in Him we live, and move, and are; as also certain of your poets have said: For of Him also we are offspring. 29 'Being, therefore, offspring of God, we ought not to think the Godhead to be like to gold, or silver, or stone, graving of art and device of man; 30 the times, indeed, therefore, of the ignorance God having overlooked, doth now command all men everywhere to reform, 31 because He did set a day in which He is about to judge the world in righteousness, by a man whom He did ordain, having given assurance to all, having raised him out of the dead.' 32 And having heard of a rising again of the dead, some, indeed, were mocking, but others said, 'We will hear thee again concerning this;' 33 and so Paul went forth from the midst of them, 34 and certain men having cleaved to him, did believe, among whom [is] also Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman, by name Damaris, and others with them.
Acts · Young's Literal Translation
Acts 17 Young's Literal Translation
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
People & places in this chapter
From this site's family tree and Bible maps, only where those guides cite this chapter.
People
Damaris
A woman who believed after Paul's speech at Athens.
Cited in the guide: Acts 17:34
Dionysius
A member of the Areopagus council who believed after Paul's speech at Athens.
Cited in the guide: Acts 17:34
Jason
Hosted Paul and Silas at Thessalonica and was dragged before the city authorities by a mob; he is probably the Jason whom Paul calls his kinsman in Romans.
Cited in the guide: Acts 17:5; Acts 17:7; Acts 17:9
Places
Athens
The philosophical center of the Greco-Roman world. Paul engaged Stoic and Epicurean thinkers on Mars Hill (the Areopagus), reasoning toward the resurrection.
Cited in the guide: Acts 17:16; Acts 17:22
Thessalonica
Capital of the Roman province of Macedonia and a key stop on the Via Egnatia. Paul's brief ministry produced a strong church and two of his earliest letters.
Cited in the guide: Acts 17:1; 1 Thessalonians 1:1; Acts 17:6
Cross references (33)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 1 Thessalonians 1:1; Philippians 4:16; Acts 20:4; 2 Thessalonians 1:1; 2 Timothy 4:10
- 2 Acts 18:4; Acts 9:20; Isaiah 1:18; Acts 17:10; Luke 4:16
- 3 Acts 18:28; Acts 9:22; Luke 24:32; 1 Thessalonians 1:5–6; Acts 3:18
- 4 Acts 17:12; Acts 13:43; Acts 14:4; Acts 15:22; Acts 13:50
- 5 Galatians 5:26; Acts 17:13; Acts 14:2; Galatians 5:21; 1 Thessalonians 2:14–16
- 6 Acts 24:5; Acts 16:19–21; Acts 28:22; Luke 23:5; Acts 21:28–31
- 7 Luke 23:2; John 19:12; Acts 16:21; Daniel 3:12; 1 Peter 2:15
- 8 John 11:48; Matthew 2:3
- 9 Acts 17:5
- 10 Acts 17:13–14; 1 Thessalonians 2:2; Acts 17:2; Acts 20:4; Acts 9:25
- 11 Isaiah 34:16; Proverbs 2:1–5; John 5:39; 1 Thessalonians 2:13; Matthew 13:23
- 12 Ephesians 5:14; Acts 14:1; Acts 13:50; Acts 17:2–4; 1 Corinthians 1:26
- 13 1 Thessalonians 2:14–16; Acts 17:5; Acts 21:27; Acts 14:2; Acts 6:12
- 14 Acts 17:10; Matthew 10:23; Acts 16:1; Acts 9:25; Acts 9:30
- 15 Acts 18:5; 1 Thessalonians 3:1; Acts 18:1; 2 Timothy 4:10–11; Titus 3:12
- 16 Psalm 119:158; Psalm 119:136; Exodus 32:19–20; 2 Peter 2:7; Job 32:18–20
- 17 Acts 13:16; Acts 14:1–4; Acts 17:2–4; Acts 9:20; Matthew 5:1–2
- 18 1 Corinthians 1:20–21; Luke 11:53; 1 Corinthians 3:18; Colossians 2:8; Acts 4:2
- 19 Mark 1:27; Acts 17:22; Acts 24:24; Acts 25:22; Acts 26:1
- 20 Hosea 8:12; 1 Corinthians 1:23; 1 Corinthians 2:14; 1 Corinthians 1:18; 1 Peter 4:4
- 21 2 Timothy 2:16–17; Colossians 4:5; Ephesians 5:16; 2 Thessalonians 3:11–12; 1 Timothy 5:13
- 22 Acts 25:19; Acts 17:16; Acts 19:35; Jeremiah 10:2–3; Jeremiah 50:38
- 23 John 4:22; Galatians 4:8–9; John 17:3; John 17:25; Acts 17:30
- 24 1 Kings 8:27; Deuteronomy 10:14; Acts 7:48; Isaiah 66:1; 2 Chronicles 6:18
- 25 Psalm 50:8–13; Isaiah 42:5; Genesis 2:7; Acts 17:28; Romans 11:35
- 26 Deuteronomy 32:7–8; Genesis 3:20; Malachi 2:10; Romans 5:12–19; 1 Corinthians 15:22
- 27 Jeremiah 23:23–24; Deuteronomy 4:7; Romans 1:20; Acts 14:17; Psalm 19:1–6
- 28 Job 12:10; Colossians 1:17; Hebrews 1:3; Psalm 36:9; Luke 20:38
- 29 Isaiah 40:25; Isaiah 46:5–6; Exodus 20:4; Psalm 115:4–8; Habakkuk 2:19–20
- 30 Acts 14:16; Titus 2:11–12; Luke 24:47; Romans 3:25; Ephesians 4:17–32
- 31 Romans 2:16; 2 Peter 3:7; Matthew 25:31–46; Psalm 9:8; Psalm 98:9
- 32 Acts 17:18; Acts 26:8; 2 Corinthians 6:2; 1 Corinthians 4:10; Acts 2:13
- 34 Acts 17:19; Romans 11:5–6; Acts 13:48; Acts 17:4; Philippians 4:22
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
Again they haste past the small cities, and press on to the greater ones, since from those the word was to flow as from a fountain into the neighboring cities. "And Paul, as his manner was, went into the synagogue of the Jews." Although he had said, "We turn to the Gentiles" (ch. xiii.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 11 (1889)
And to the Athenians Thou saidst by Thy apostle, that in Thee "we live, and move, and have our being;" as one of their own poets has said. And verily these books came from thence.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 1 (1886)
For "They," it is said, "that have turned the world upside down, are come hither also;" and again, "They preach things contrary to the decrees of Cæsar, saying that Jesus Christ is king." And everywhere the courts of justice were preoccupied by such suspicions, and much influence from above was needed, for their showing both the truth of the doctrine …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 10 (1888)
For in Him we live and move and have our being, according to the double power of that Breathing into us; for we were all inspired by Him with breath, and as many of us as were capable of it, and in so far as we open the mouth of our mind, with God the Holy Ghost.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)
… of the expected appearance of the Lord from heaven the Holy Spirit will not, as some suppose, have no functions to discharge: on the contrary, even in the day of His revelation, in which the blessed and only potentate will judge the world in righteousness, the Holy Spirit will be present with Him.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 8 (1895)