A Godly Man in a Godless City

Paul in Athens

¹⁶Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was gprovoked within him as he saw that the city was hfull of idols. ¹⁷So ihe reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. ¹⁸Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him. And some said, j“What does this babbler wish to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities”—because khe was preaching lJesus and the resurrection. ¹⁹And they took him and brought him to mthe Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this nnew teaching is that you are presenting? ²⁰For you bring some ostrange things to our ears. We wish to know therefore what these things mean.” ²¹Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new.

Paul Addresses the Areopagus

²²So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. ²³For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: p‘To the unknown god.’ pWhat therefore you worship qas unknown, this I proclaim to you. ²⁴rThe God who made the world and everything in it, being sLord of heaven and earth, tdoes not live in temples made by man,3 ²⁵nor is he served by human hands, uas though he needed anything, since he himself vgives to all mankind wlife and breath and everything. ²⁶And xhe made from one man every nation of mankind to live yon all the face of the earth, zhaving determined allotted periods and athe boundaries of their dwelling place, ²⁷bthat they should seek God, cand perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. dYet he is actually not far from each one of us, ²⁸for

e“‘In him we live and move and have our being’;4

as even some of fyour own poets have said,

“‘For we are indeed his offspring.’5

²⁹gBeing then God's offspring, hwe ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. ³⁰iThe times of ignorance jGod overlooked, but know he lcommands all people everywhere to repent, ³¹because he has fixed ma day on which nhe will judge the world oin righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and pof this he has given assurance to all qby raising him from the dead.”

³²Now when they heard of rthe resurrection of the dead, ssome mocked. But others said, t“We will hear you again about this.” ³³So Paul went out from their midst. ³⁴But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius uthe Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.