Acts 17 :: English Standard Version (ESV)

Paul and Silas in Thessalonica

Act 17:1Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews.

Act 17:2

Act 17:2And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures,

Act 17:3

Act 17:3explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.”

Act 17:4

Act 17:4And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women.

Act 17:5

Act 17:5But the Jews[fn] were jealous, and taking some wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob, set the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out to the crowd.

Act 17:6

Act 17:6And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also,

Act 17:7

Act 17:7and Jason has received them, and they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.”

Act 17:8

Act 17:8And the people and the city authorities were disturbed when they heard these things.

Act 17:9

Act 17:9And when they had taken money as security from Jason and the rest, they let them go.

Paul and Silas in Berea

Act 17:10

Act 17:10The brothers[fn] immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue.

Act 17:11

Act 17:11Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.

Act 17:12

Act 17:12Many of them therefore believed, with not a few Greek women of high standing as well as men.

Act 17:13

Act 17:13But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that the word of God was proclaimed by Paul at Berea also, they came there too, agitating and stirring up the crowds.

Act 17:14

Act 17:14Then the brothers immediately sent Paul off on his way to the sea, but Silas and Timothy remained there.

Act 17:15

Act 17:15Those who conducted Paul brought him as far as Athens, and after receiving a command for Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as possible, they departed.

Paul in Athens

Act 17:16

Act 17:16Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols.

Act 17:17

Act 17:17So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there.

Act 17:18

Act 17:18Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him. And some said, “What does this babbler wish to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities”—because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection.

Act 17:19

Act 17:19And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting?

Act 17:20

Act 17:20For you bring some strange things to our ears. We wish to know therefore what these things mean.”

Act 17:21

Act 17:21Now 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

Act 17:22

Act 17:22So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious.

Act 17:23

Act 17:23For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.

Act 17:24

Act 17:24The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man,[fn]

Act 17:25

Act 17:25nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.

Act 17:26

Act 17:26And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place,

Act 17:27

Act 17:27that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us,

Act 17:28

Act 17:28for
“‘In him we live and move and have our being’;[fn] as even some of your own poets have said,
“‘For we are indeed his offspring.’[fn]

Act 17:29

Act 17:29Being then God’s offspring, we 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.

Act 17:30

Act 17:30The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent,

Act 17:31

Act 17:31because 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 by raising him from the dead.”

Act 17:32

Act 17:32Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, “We will hear you again about this.”

Act 17:33

Act 17:33So Paul went out from their midst.

Act 17:34

Act 17:34But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.

See the ESV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).

ESV Footnotes

(17:5)

Greek Ioudaioi probably refers here to Jewish religious leaders, and others under their influence, in that time; also verse 13

(17:10)

Or brothers and sisters; also verse 14

(17:24)

Greek made by hands

(17:28)

Probably from Epimenides of Crete

(17:28)

From Aratus’s poem “Phainomena”

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Acts Chapter 17 — Additional Translations:

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