Dual Panel1NOW AFTER [Paul and Silas] had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews.
2And Paul entered, as he usually did, and for three Sabbaths he reasoned {and} argued with them from the Scriptures,
3Explaining [them] {and} [quoting passages] setting forth {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 (the Messiah).
4And some of them [accordingly] were induced to believe and associated themselves with Paul and Silas, as did a great number of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women.
5But the unbelieving Jews were aroused to jealousy, and, getting hold of some wicked men (ruffians and rascals) and loungers in the marketplace, they gathered together a mob, set the town in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring [Paul and Silas] out to the people.
6But when they failed to find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brethren before the city authorities, crying, These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also,
7And Jason has received them to his house {and} privately protected them! And they are all ignoring {and} acting contrary to the decrees of Caesar, [actually] asserting that there is another king, one Jesus!
8And both the crowd and the city authorities, on hearing this, were irritated (stirred up and troubled).
9And when they had taken security [bail] from Jason and the others, they let them go.
10Now the brethren at once sent Paul and Silas away by night to Beroea; and when they arrived, they entered the synagogue of the Jews.
11Now these [Jews] were better disposed {and} more noble than those in Thessalonica, for they were entirely ready {and} accepted {and} welcomed the message [concerning the attainment through Christ of eternal salvation in the kingdom of God] with inclination of mind {and} eagerness, searching {and} examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.
12Many of them therefore became believers, together with not a few prominent Greeks, women as well as men.
13But when the Jews of Thessalonica learned that the Word of God [concerning the attainment through Christ of eternal salvation in the kingdom of God] was also preached by Paul at Beroea, they came there too, disturbing {and} inciting the masses.
14At once the brethren sent Paul off on his way to the sea, but Silas and Timothy remained behind.
15Those who escorted Paul brought him as far as Athens; and receiving instructions for Silas and Timothy that they should come to him as soon as possible, they departed.
16Now while Paul was awaiting them at Athens, his spirit was grieved {and} roused to anger as he saw that the city was full of idols.
17So he reasoned {and} argued in the synagogue with the Jews and those who worshiped there, and in the marketplace [where assemblies are held] day after day with any who chanced to be there.
18And some also of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him {and} began to engage in discussion. And some said, What is this babbler with his scrap-heap learning trying to say? Others said, He seems to be an announcer of foreign deities--because he preached Jesus and the resurrection.
19And they took hold of him and brought him to the Areopagus [Mars Hill meeting place], saying, May we know what this novel (unheard of and unprecedented) teaching is which you are openly declaring?
20For you set forth some startling things, foreign {and} strange to our ears; we wish to know therefore just what these things mean--
21For the Athenians, all of them, and the foreign residents {and} visitors among them spent all their leisure time in nothing except telling or hearing something newer than the last--
22So Paul, standing in the center of the Areopagus [Mars Hill meeting place], said: Men of Athens, I perceive in every way [on every hand and with every turn I make] that you are most religious {or} very reverent to demons.
23For as I passed along and carefully observed your objects of worship, I came also upon an altar with this inscription, To the unknown god. Now what you are already worshiping as unknown, this I set forth to you.
24The God Who produced {and} formed the world and all things in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in handmade shrines.
25Neither is He served by human hands, as though He lacked anything, for it is He Himself Who gives life and breath and all things to all [people].
26And He made from one [common origin, one source, one blood] all nations of men to settle on the face of the earth, having definitely determined [their] allotted periods of time and the fixed boundaries of their habitation (their settlements, lands, and abodes),
27So that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel after Him and find Him, although He is not far from each one of us.
28For in Him we live and move and have our being; as even some of your [own] poets have said, For we are also His offspring.
29Since then we are God's offspring, we ought not to suppose that Deity (the Godhead) is like gold or silver or stone, [of the nature of] a representation by human art and imagination, {or} anything constructed {or} invented.
30Such [former] ages of ignorance God, it is true, ignored {and} allowed to pass unnoticed; but now He charges all people everywhere to repent (to change their minds for the better and heartily to amend their ways, with abhorrence of their past sins),
31Because He has fixed a day when He will judge the world righteously (justly) by a Man Whom He has destined {and} appointed for that task, and He has made this credible {and} given conviction {and} assurance {and} evidence to everyone by raising Him from the dead.
32Now when they had heard [that there had been] a resurrection from the dead, some scoffed; but others said, We will hear you again about this matter.
33So Paul went out from among them.
34But some men were on his side {and} joined him and believed (became Christians); among them were Dionysius, a judge of the Areopagus, and a woman named Damaris, and some others with them.