Acts 17
1 Paul and Silas traveled through Amphipolis and Apollonia [towns] and arrived at Thessalonica [city]. There was a Jewish meeting place there.
Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue.
2 (On the Sabbath/On the Jewish rest day) Paul went into the meeting house, as he usually did. For three weeks [he went there] on each Jewish day of rest. Referring to the Scriptures [about the Messiah], he spoke to the people who were there.
Paul, as was his custom, went in to them; and for three Sabbath days reasoned with them from the Scriptures,
3 He explained and showed that [the prophets wrote that] the Messiah needed to die and (to become alive again/to be raised from the dead [afterwards]). He told them: “This man Jesus, whom I am telling you about, is our Messiah. [He died and became alive again, just like the prophets predicted].”
explaining and demonstrating that the Messiah had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, “This Yeshua, whom I proclaim to you, is the Messiah.”
4 Some of the Jews [there] were persuaded by {believed} [what Paul had said] and began to associate with Paul and Silas. There were also many non-Jewish people there who worshipped God and many important women [who also believed the message about Jesus], and they began to associate with Paul and Silas.
Some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas: of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and not a few of the chief women.
5 But [some leaders of] the Jews there in Thessalonica became jealous [because many people believed what Paul taught]. So they went to the public square and persuaded some lazy men [who were loitering there] to follow them. [In this way, the leaders of] the Jews gathered a crowd and incited them to become noisy and start a riot [against Paul and Silas]. Those [Jews and others] ran to the house of [a man named] Jason. [He was the man who had invited Paul and Silas to stay at his house]. They wanted to bring Paul and Silas outside to where the crowd [of people was waiting].
But the unpersuaded Jews took along some wicked men from the marketplace and gathering a crowd, set the city in an uproar. Assaulting the house of Jason, they sought to bring them out to the people.
6 They discovered that Paul and Silas were not there, but they found Jason [and grabbed him]. They dragged him and some of the [other] believers to where the city officials/authorities and [many other people were gathered]. The men [who had brought Jason] shouted, “Those [two] men have caused trouble [IDM] everywhere [HYP] [they have gone]. Now they have come to our city,
When they didn’t find them, they dragged Jason and certain brothers before the rulers of the city, crying, “These who have turned the world upside down have come here also,
7 and [this fellow] Jason invited them to stay at his house. All the people [of this sect] oppose what our Emperor has decreed. They say that another person, whose name is Jesus, is [the real] king!”
whom Jason has received. These all act contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Yeshua!”
8 When the crowd of people [that had gathered] and the city authorities heard that, they became very angry and excited.
The multitude and the rulers of the city were troubled when they heard these things.
9 [They wanted to put the believers in jail. But instead], the officials made Jason and the other [believers] pay a fine and told them that they [would give the money back to them if Paul and Silas did not cause any more trouble]. Then the authorities let Jason and those other believers go.
When they had taken security from Jason and the rest, they let them go.
10 [So] that same night, the believers sent Paul and Silas [out of Thessalonica] to Berea [town]. When Paul and Silas arrived there, they went to the Jewish meeting place, [on a day when people had gathered there].
The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Beroea. When they arrived, they went into the Jewish synagogue.
11 The [Jews] in Thessalonica had not been very willing to listen to God’s message, but the [Jews] who lived in Berea were very willing to listen, so they listened very eagerly to the message [about Jesus]. Every day they read the Scriptures [for themselves] to find out if what Paul said [about the Messiah] was true.
Now these were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.
12 As a result, many of the Jewish people believed [in Jesus], and also some of the important non-Jewish women and many non-Jewish men [believed in him].
Many of them therefore believed; also of the prominent Greek women, and not a few men.
13 But then the Jews in Thessalonica heard [people tell them] that Paul [was] in Berea and that he was preaching the message from God [about Jesus]. So they went to Berea and [told people there that what Paul was teaching was not true. Thus], they caused many of those people to get angry [at Paul].
But when the Jews of Thessalonica had knowledge that the word of God was proclaimed by Paul at Beroea also, they came there likewise, agitating the multitudes.
14 So [several of] the believers [in Berea] took Paul to the coast [to go to another province]. But Silas and Timothy stayed in Berea.
Then the brothers immediately sent out Paul to go as far as to the sea, and Silas and Timothy still stayed there.
15 When Paul and the other men from Berea [arrived at the coast, they got on a ship and] went to Athens [city]. Then Paul said [to the men who had come with him], “Tell Silas and Timothy to come to me [here in Athens] as soon as they can.” Then those men left [Athens and returned to Berea].
But those who escorted Paul brought him as far as Athens. Receiving a commandment to Silas and Timothy that they should come to him very quickly, they departed.
16 In Athens, Paul waited for Silas and Timothy [to arrive. In the meantime, he walked around in the city. He] became very distressed/disturbed because he saw that throughout [HYP] the city there were many idols.
Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw the city full of idols.
17 So he went to the Jewish meeting place and talked [about Jesus] with the Jews, and also with the Greeks who had accepted what the Jews believe. He also went to the public square/center every day and talked to the people [whom he met] there.
So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who met him.
18 Paul met some teachers who liked to talk about what people should believe. [People called] some of them Epicureans and [they called] others Stoics. They told Paul [what they believed], and they asked him [what he believed. Then] some of them said [to one another], “This ignorant person is just talking nonsense [RHQ]!” Others said, “[We(exc) think] that he is teaching people about (foreign gods/[new] gods that we [(exc)] have not heard about).” They said that because Paul was telling them that Jesus [had died and] had become alive again [afterwards. They had not heard that message before].
Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also were conversing with him. Some said, “What does this babbler want to say?” Others said, “He seems to be advocating foreign deities,” because he preached Yeshua and the resurrection.
19 So they took Paul to the place where the city council met. [When they arrived] there, they said to Paul, “[Please] tell us, what is this new message that you [(sg)] are teaching people?
They took hold of him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is, which you are speaking about?
20 You are teaching some things that startle us [(exc)], so we want to know what they mean.”
For you bring certain strange things to our ears. We want to know therefore what these things mean.”
21 [They said that, because] the people of Athens and also the people from other regions who lived there continually talked about what was new [to them], or they listened to [others tell] what was new.
Now all the Athenians and the strangers living there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell or to hear some new thing.
22 Then Paul stood up before the men of the city council and said, “Citizens of Athens, I see that you (are very religious/think that it is very important to worship many gods).
Paul stood in the middle of the Areopagus and said, “You men of Athens, I perceive that you are very religious in all things.
23 I [say that] because, while I was walking along and observing the objects [that represent different gods that] you worship, I even saw an altar that had these words [that someone had] carved [on it: THIS HONORS] THE GOD [THAT WE(exc)] DO NOT KNOW. So now I will tell you about [that God] whom you worship but you do not know.
For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription: ‘TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.’ What therefore you worship in ignorance, I announce to you.
24 He is the God who made the world and everything in it. Because he rules over all [beings in] heaven and [on] earth, he does not dwell in shrines that people have made.
The God who made the world and all things in it, he, being Lord of heaven and earth, doesn’t dwell in temples made with hands.
25 He does not need to have anything made for him by people [MTY] {to have people [MTY] make [MTY] anything for him}, because everything that exists belongs to him. He is the one who causes (us [(inc)]/all people) to live and breathe, and [he gives us] all the things [that we(inc) need].
He isn’t served by men’s hands, as though he needed anything, seeing he himself gives to all life and breath and all things.
26 [In the beginning], God created one couple, and from them God produced all (the ethnic groups/the nations) that now live everywhere on the earth. He also decided where each ethnic group of people should live and how long they should live [there].
He made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the surface of the earth, having determined appointed seasons and the boundaries of their dwellings,
27 He wanted people to realize that they need him. Then maybe they would seek him and find him. [God wants us to seek him], although he is [really] close [LIT] to each one of us.
that they should seek the Lord, if perhaps they might reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.
28 As someone has said, ‘[It is only] because he enables us that we [(inc)] live and move and do [what we do].’ And, as some of your own poets have said, ‘We [(inc)] are God’s children.’
‘For in him we live, move, and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also his offspring.’
29 Therefore, because we are God’s children [and can communicate like God does], we [(inc)] should not think that he is anything like an image [that people have made] of gold or silver or stone [which cannot communicate]. Those images are designed and skillfully made {People design and make those images}, [but they are not alive].
Being then the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold, or silver, or stone, engraved by art and design of man.
30 During the times when people did not know [what God wanted them to do], he did not [immediately] punish [them for what they did]. But now God commands all people everywhere to turn away from their evil behavior.
The times of ignorance therefore God overlooked. But now he commands that all people everywhere should repent,
31 [He tells us] that on a certain day that he has chosen he is going to judge [all of us(inc) people in] [MTY] the world. He has appointed a [certain] man to judge [us, and that man will judge each of us] fairly/justly. God has shown to all [people that he has appointed that man to judge everyone], because God (caused him to become alive again after he had died/raised him from the dead).”
because he has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained; of which he has given assurance to all men, in that he has raised him from the dead.”
32 When the men of the council heard [Paul say] that ([a man] had become alive again after he had died/[someone] had been raised from the dead), some of them laughed scornfully. But others said, “We [(exc)] would like you [(sg)] to tell us more about this, some other time.”
Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked; but others said, “We want to hear you again concerning this.”
33 After they said that, Paul left the council [meeting].
Thus Paul went out from amongst them.
34 However, some of the people there went along with Paul and became believers. Among those [who believed in Jesus] was a member of the council whose [name was] Dionysius. Also, an [important] woman whose name was Damaris and some other people [who had heard Paul’s message also believed in Jesus].
But certain men joined with him and believed, including Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.
