Thematic Bible




Thematic Bible



But those who went with Paul took him as far as Athens, and then went away, with orders from him to Silas and Timothy to come to him quickly. Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was troubled, for he saw all the town full of images of the gods. So he had discussions in the Synagogue with the Jews and God-fearing Gentiles, and every day in the market-place with those who were there. read more.
And some of those who were supporters of the theories of the Epicureans and the Stoics, had a meeting with him. And some said, What is this talker of foolish words saying? And others, He seems to be a preacher of strange gods: because he was preaching of Jesus and his coming back from the dead. And they took him to Mars' Hill, saying, Will you make clear to us what is this new teaching of yours? For you seem to us to say strange things, and we have a desire to get the sense of them. (Now all the Athenians and the men from other lands who come there were giving all their time to talking or hearing of anything new.) And Paul got to his feet on Mars' Hill and said, O men of Athens, I see that you are overmuch given to fear of the gods. For when I came by, I was looking at the things to which you give worship, and I saw an altar with this writing on it, TO THE GOD OF WHOM THERE IS NO KNOWLEDGE. Now, what you, without knowledge, give worship to, I make clear to you. The God who made the earth and everything in it, he, being Lord of heaven and earth, is not housed in buildings made with hands; And he is not dependent on the work of men's hands, as if he had need of anything, for he himself gives to all life and breath and all things; And he has made of one blood all the nations of men living on all the face of the earth, ordering their times and the limits of their lands, So that they might make search for God, in order, if possible, to get knowledge of him and make discovery of him, though he is not far from every one of us: For in him we have life and motion and existence; as certain of your verse writers have said, For we are his offspring. If then we are the offspring of God, it is not right for us to have the idea that God is like gold or silver or stone, formed by the art or design of man. Those times when men had no knowledge were overlooked by God; but now he gives orders to all men in every place to undergo a change of heart: Because a day has been fixed in which all the world will be judged in righteousness by the man who has been marked out by him for this work; of which he has given a sign to all men by giving him back from the dead. Now on hearing about the coming back from death, some of them made sport of it, but others said, Let us go more fully into this another time. And so Paul went away from among them. But some men gave him their support: among whom was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.

At last our desire to have news of you was so strong that, while we ourselves were waiting at Athens,


And some of them had faith, and were joined to Paul and Silas; and a number of the God-fearing Greeks, and some of the chief women.

This I say, then, and give witness in the Lord, that you are to go no longer in the way of the Gentiles whose minds are turned to that which has no profit, Whose thoughts are dark, to whom the life of God is strange because they are without knowledge, and their hearts have been made hard; Who having no more power of feeling, have given themselves up to evil passions, to do all unclean things with overmuch desire.

Then do not be full of care, saying, What are we to have for food or drink? or, With what may we be clothed? Because the Gentiles go in search of all these things: for your Father in heaven has knowledge that you have need of all these things:


What I say is that the things offered by the Gentiles are offered to evil spirits and not to God; and it is not my desire for you to have any part with evil spirits.

This is what the Lord has said: Do not go in the way of the nations; have no fear of the signs of heaven, for the nations go in fear of them. For that which is feared by the people is foolish: it is the work of the hands of the workman; for a tree is cut down by him out of the woods with his axe.

And in your prayer do not make use of the same words again and again, as the Gentiles do: for they have the idea that God will give attention to them because of the number of their words. So be not like them; because your Father has knowledge of your needs even before you make your requests to him.

Who in the past let all nations go in the ways which seemed good to them.

Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was troubled, for he saw all the town full of images of the gods. So he had discussions in the Synagogue with the Jews and God-fearing Gentiles, and every day in the market-place with those who were there.

And Paul got to his feet on Mars' Hill and said, O men of Athens, I see that you are overmuch given to fear of the gods. For when I came by, I was looking at the things to which you give worship, and I saw an altar with this writing on it, TO THE GOD OF WHOM THERE IS NO KNOWLEDGE. Now, what you, without knowledge, give worship to, I make clear to you. The God who made the earth and everything in it, he, being Lord of heaven and earth, is not housed in buildings made with hands; read more.
And he is not dependent on the work of men's hands, as if he had need of anything, for he himself gives to all life and breath and all things; And he has made of one blood all the nations of men living on all the face of the earth, ordering their times and the limits of their lands, So that they might make search for God, in order, if possible, to get knowledge of him and make discovery of him, though he is not far from every one of us:

For there is a revelation of the wrath of God from heaven against all the wrongdoing and evil thoughts of men who keep down what is true by wrongdoing; Because the knowledge of God may be seen in them, God having made it clear to them. For from the first making of the world, those things of God which the eye is unable to see, that is, his eternal power and existence, are fully made clear, he having given the knowledge of them through the things which he has made, so that men have no reason for wrongdoing: read more.
Because, having the knowledge of God, they did not give glory to God as God, and did not give praise, but their minds were full of foolish things, and their hearts, being without sense, were made dark. Seeming to be wise, they were in fact foolish, And by them the glory of the eternal God was changed and made into the image of man who is not eternal, and of birds and beasts and things which go on the earth. For this reason God gave them up to the evil desires of their hearts, working shame in their bodies with one another: Because by them the true word of God was changed into that which is false, and they gave worship and honour to the thing which is made, and not to him who made it, to whom be blessing for ever. So be it. For this reason God gave them up to evil passions, and their women were changing the natural use into one which is unnatural: And in the same way the men gave up the natural use of the woman and were burning in their desire for one another, men doing shame with men, and getting in their bodies the right reward of their evil-doing. And because they had not the mind to keep God in their knowledge, God gave them up to an evil mind, to do those things which are not right; Being full of all wrongdoing, evil, desire for the goods of others, hate, envy, putting to death, fighting, deceit, cruel ways, evil talk, and false statements about others; Hated by God, full of pride, without respect, full of loud talk, given to evil inventions, not honouring father or mother, Without knowledge, not true to their undertakings, unkind, having no mercy: Who, though they have knowledge of the law of God, that the fate of those who do these things is death, not only go on doing these things themselves, but give approval to those who do them.

So you have no reason, whoever you are, for judging: for in judging another you are judging yourself, for you do the same things. And we are conscious that God is a true judge against those who do such things. But you who are judging another for doing what you do yourself, are you hoping that God's decision will not take effect against you? read more.
Or is it nothing to you that God had pity on you, waiting and putting up with you for so long, not seeing that in his pity God's desire is to give you a change of heart? But by your hard and unchanged heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of the revelation of God's judging in righteousness; Who will give to every man his right reward: To those who go on with good works in the hope of glory and honour and salvation from death, he will give eternal life: But to those who, from a love of competition, are not guided by what is true, will come the heat of his wrath, Trouble and sorrow on all whose works are evil, to the Jew first and then to the Greek; But glory and honour and peace to all whose works are good, to the Jew first and then to the Greek: For one man is not different from another before God. All those who have done wrong without the law will get destruction without the law: and those who have done wrong under the law will have their punishment by the law; For it is not the hearers of the law who will be judged as having righteousness before God, but only the doers: For when the Gentiles without the law have a natural desire to do the things in the law, they are a law to themselves; Because the work of the law is seen in their hearts, their sense of right and wrong giving witness to it, while their minds are at one time judging them and at another giving them approval;

You are conscious that when you were Gentiles, in whatever way you were guided, you went after images without voice or power.

We being Jews by birth, and not sinners of the Gentiles,

For the things which are done by them in secret it is shame even to put into words.


Because for long enough, in times past, we have been living after the way of the Gentiles, given up to the desires of the flesh, to drinking and feasting and loose behaviour and unclean worship of images; And they are wondering that you no longer go with them in this violent wasting of life, and are saying evil things of you:


And after some days, Paul said to Barnabas, Let us go back and see the brothers in every town where we have given the word of God, and see how they are. And Barnabas had a desire to take with them John, named Mark. But Paul was of the opinion that it was not right to take with them one who had gone away from them in Pamphylia, and had not gone on with the work. read more.
And there was a sharp argument between them, so that they were parted from one another, and Barnabas took Mark with him and went by ship to Cyprus; But Paul took Silas and went away with the blessing of the brothers. And he went through Syria and Cilicia, making the churches stronger in the faith. And he came to Derbe and Lystra: and there was a certain disciple there named Timothy, whose mother was one of the Jews of the faith, but his father was a Greek; Of whom the brothers at Lystra and Iconium had a high opinion. Paul had a desire for him to go with him, and he gave him circumcision because of the Jews who were in those parts: for they all had knowledge that his father was a Greek. And on their way through the towns, they gave them the rules which had been made by the Apostles and the rulers of the church at Jerusalem, so that they might keep them. So the churches were made strong in the faith and were increased in number every day. And after they had gone through the land of Phrygia and Galatia, the Holy Spirit did not let them take the word into Asia; And having come to Mysia, they made an attempt to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not let them; And going past Mysia, they came down to Troas. And Paul had a vision in the night; a man of Macedonia came, requesting him, and saying, Come over into Macedonia and give us help. And when he had seen the vision, straight away we made the decision to go into Macedonia, for it seemed certain to us that God had sent us to give the good news to them. So, from Troas we went straight by ship to Samothrace and the day after to Neapolis; And from there to Philippi, which is the most important town of Macedonia and a Roman colony: and we were there for some days. And on the Sabbath we went outside the town, by the river, where we had an idea that there would be a place of prayer; and, being seated, we had talk with the women who had come together. And a certain woman named Lydia, a trader in purple cloth of the town of Thyatira, and a God-fearing woman, gave ear to us: whose heart the Lord made open to give attention to the things which Paul was saying. And when she and her family had had baptism, she made a request to us, saying, If it seems to you that I am true to the Lord, come into my house and be my guests. And she made us come. And when we were going to the place of prayer, we came across a girl with a spirit which gave knowledge of the future, whose masters made great profit from her power. She came after Paul and us, crying out and saying, These men are the servants of the Most High God, who are giving you news of the way of salvation. And this she did on a number of days. But Paul was greatly troubled and, turning, said to the spirit, I give you orders in the name of Jesus Christ, to come out of her. And it came out that very hour. But when her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they took Paul and Silas, pulling them into the market-place before the rulers; And when they had taken them before the authorities, they said, These men, who are Jews, are greatly troubling our town; Teaching rules of living which it is not right for us to have or to keep, being Romans. And the people made an attack on them all together: and the authorities took their clothing off them, and gave orders for them to be whipped. And when they had given them a great number of blows, they put them in prison, giving orders to the keeper of the prison to keep them safely: And he, having such orders, put them into the inner prison with chains on their feet. But about the middle of the night, Paul and Silas were making prayers and songs to God in the hearing of the prisoners; And suddenly there was an earth-shock, so that the base of the prison was moved: and all the doors came open, and everyone's chains came off. And the keeper, coming out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, took his sword and was about to put himself to death, fearing that the prisoners had got away. But Paul said in a loud voice, Do yourself no damage, for we are all here. And he sent for lights and came rushing in and, shaking with fear, went down on his face before Paul and Silas, And took them out and said, Sirs, what have I to do to get salvation? And they said, Have faith in the Lord Jesus, and you and your family will have salvation. And they gave the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. And that same hour of the night, he took them, and when he had given attention to their wounds, he and all his family had baptism straight away. And he took them into his house and gave them food, and he was full of joy, having faith in God with all his family. But when it was day, the authorities sent the police, saying, Let these men go. And the keeper said to Paul, The authorities have given orders to let you go: come out now, and go in peace. But Paul said to them, They have given us who are Romans a public whipping without judging us, and have put us in prison. Will they now send us out secretly? no, truly, let them come themselves and take us out. And the police gave an account of these words to the authorities, and they were full of fear on hearing that they were Romans; Then they came and made prayers to them, requesting them, when they had taken them out, to go away from the town. And they came out of the prison and went to the house of Lydia: and when they had seen the brothers they gave them comfort and went away. Now when they had gone through Amphipolis and Apollonia they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Synagogue of the Jews: And Paul, as he generally did, went in to them, and on three Sabbath days had discussions with them from the holy Writings, Saying to them clearly and openly that Christ had to be put to death and come back to life again; and that this Jesus, whom, he said, I am preaching to you, is the Christ. And some of them had faith, and were joined to Paul and Silas; and a number of the God-fearing Greeks, and some of the chief women. But the Jews, being moved with envy, took with them certain low persons from among the common people, and getting together a great number of people, made an outcry in the town, attacking the house of Jason with the purpose of taking them out to the people. And when they were not able to get them, they took Jason and some of the brothers by force before the rulers of the town, crying, These men, who have made trouble all over the world have now come here; Whom Jason has taken into his house: and they are acting against the orders of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus. And hearing these things the people and the rulers of the town were troubled. And having made Jason and the others give an undertaking to keep the peace, they let them go. And the brothers straight away sent Paul and Silas away by night to Beroea: and they, when they came there, went to the Synagogue of the Jews. Now these were more noble than the Jews of Thessalonica, for they gave serious attention to the word, searching in the holy Writings every day, to see if these things were so. And a number of them had faith, and no small number of the Greek women of high position and of the men. But when the Jews of Thessalonica had news that Paul was preaching the word at Beroea, they came there, troubling the people and working them up. So the brothers sent Paul straight away to the sea: but Silas and Timothy kept there still. But those who went with Paul took him as far as Athens, and then went away, with orders from him to Silas and Timothy to come to him quickly. Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was troubled, for he saw all the town full of images of the gods. So he had discussions in the Synagogue with the Jews and God-fearing Gentiles, and every day in the market-place with those who were there. And some of those who were supporters of the theories of the Epicureans and the Stoics, had a meeting with him. And some said, What is this talker of foolish words saying? And others, He seems to be a preacher of strange gods: because he was preaching of Jesus and his coming back from the dead. And they took him to Mars' Hill, saying, Will you make clear to us what is this new teaching of yours? For you seem to us to say strange things, and we have a desire to get the sense of them. (Now all the Athenians and the men from other lands who come there were giving all their time to talking or hearing of anything new.) And Paul got to his feet on Mars' Hill and said, O men of Athens, I see that you are overmuch given to fear of the gods. For when I came by, I was looking at the things to which you give worship, and I saw an altar with this writing on it, TO THE GOD OF WHOM THERE IS NO KNOWLEDGE. Now, what you, without knowledge, give worship to, I make clear to you. The God who made the earth and everything in it, he, being Lord of heaven and earth, is not housed in buildings made with hands; And he is not dependent on the work of men's hands, as if he had need of anything, for he himself gives to all life and breath and all things; And he has made of one blood all the nations of men living on all the face of the earth, ordering their times and the limits of their lands, So that they might make search for God, in order, if possible, to get knowledge of him and make discovery of him, though he is not far from every one of us: For in him we have life and motion and existence; as certain of your verse writers have said, For we are his offspring. If then we are the offspring of God, it is not right for us to have the idea that God is like gold or silver or stone, formed by the art or design of man. Those times when men had no knowledge were overlooked by God; but now he gives orders to all men in every place to undergo a change of heart: Because a day has been fixed in which all the world will be judged in righteousness by the man who has been marked out by him for this work; of which he has given a sign to all men by giving him back from the dead. Now on hearing about the coming back from death, some of them made sport of it, but others said, Let us go more fully into this another time. And so Paul went away from among them. But some men gave him their support: among whom was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them. After these things, he went away from Athens, and came to Corinth. And there he came across a certain Jew named Aquila, a man of Pontus by birth, who not long before had come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had given orders that all Jews were to go away from Rome: and he came to them; And because he was of the same trade, he was living with them, and they did their work together; for by trade they were tent-makers. And every Sabbath he had discussions in the Synagogue, turning Jews and Greeks to the faith. And when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul was completely given up to the word, preaching to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus. And when they put themselves against him, and said evil words, he said, shaking his clothing, Your blood be on your heads, I am clean: from now I will go to the Gentiles. And moving from there, he went into the house of a man named Titus Justus, a God-fearing man, whose house was very near the Synagogue. And Crispus, the ruler of the Synagogue, with all his family, had faith in the Lord; and a great number of the people of Corinth, hearing the word, had faith and were given baptism. And the Lord said to Paul in the night, in a vision, Have no fear and go on preaching: For I am with you, and no one will make an attack on you to do you damage: for I have a number of people in this town. And he was there for a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them. But when Gallio was ruler of Achaia, all the Jews together made an attack on Paul, and took him to the judge's seat, Saying, This man is teaching the people to give worship to God in a way which is against the law. But when Paul was about to say something, Gallio said to the Jews, If this was anything to do with wrongdoing or crime, there would be a reason for me to give you a hearing: But if it is a question of words or names or of your law, see to it yourselves; I will not be a judge of such things. And he sent them away from the judge's seat. And they all made an attack on Sosthenes, the ruler of the Synagogue, and gave him blows before the judge's seat; but Gallio gave no attention to these things. And Paul, after waiting some days, went away from the brothers and went by ship to Syria, Priscilla and Aquila being with him; and he had had his hair cut off in Cenchrea, for he had taken an oath. And they came down to Ephesus and he left them there: and he himself went into the Synagogue and had a discussion with the Jews. And being requested by them to be there for a longer time, he said, No; And went from them, saying, I will come back to you if God lets me; and he took ship from Ephesus. And when he had come to land at Caesarea, he went to see the church, and then went down to Antioch.


Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was troubled, for he saw all the town full of images of the gods. So he had discussions in the Synagogue with the Jews and God-fearing Gentiles, and every day in the market-place with those who were there. And some of those who were supporters of the theories of the Epicureans and the Stoics, had a meeting with him. And some said, What is this talker of foolish words saying? And others, He seems to be a preacher of strange gods: because he was preaching of Jesus and his coming back from the dead. read more.
And they took him to Mars' Hill, saying, Will you make clear to us what is this new teaching of yours? For you seem to us to say strange things, and we have a desire to get the sense of them. (Now all the Athenians and the men from other lands who come there were giving all their time to talking or hearing of anything new.) And Paul got to his feet on Mars' Hill and said, O men of Athens, I see that you are overmuch given to fear of the gods. For when I came by, I was looking at the things to which you give worship, and I saw an altar with this writing on it, TO THE GOD OF WHOM THERE IS NO KNOWLEDGE. Now, what you, without knowledge, give worship to, I make clear to you. The God who made the earth and everything in it, he, being Lord of heaven and earth, is not housed in buildings made with hands; And he is not dependent on the work of men's hands, as if he had need of anything, for he himself gives to all life and breath and all things; And he has made of one blood all the nations of men living on all the face of the earth, ordering their times and the limits of their lands, So that they might make search for God, in order, if possible, to get knowledge of him and make discovery of him, though he is not far from every one of us: For in him we have life and motion and existence; as certain of your verse writers have said, For we are his offspring. If then we are the offspring of God, it is not right for us to have the idea that God is like gold or silver or stone, formed by the art or design of man. Those times when men had no knowledge were overlooked by God; but now he gives orders to all men in every place to undergo a change of heart: Because a day has been fixed in which all the world will be judged in righteousness by the man who has been marked out by him for this work; of which he has given a sign to all men by giving him back from the dead. Now on hearing about the coming back from death, some of them made sport of it, but others said, Let us go more fully into this another time. And so Paul went away from among them. But some men gave him their support: among whom was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.


And after some days, Paul said to Barnabas, Let us go back and see the brothers in every town where we have given the word of God, and see how they are. And Barnabas had a desire to take with them John, named Mark. But Paul was of the opinion that it was not right to take with them one who had gone away from them in Pamphylia, and had not gone on with the work. read more.
And there was a sharp argument between them, so that they were parted from one another, and Barnabas took Mark with him and went by ship to Cyprus; But Paul took Silas and went away with the blessing of the brothers. And he went through Syria and Cilicia, making the churches stronger in the faith. And he came to Derbe and Lystra: and there was a certain disciple there named Timothy, whose mother was one of the Jews of the faith, but his father was a Greek; Of whom the brothers at Lystra and Iconium had a high opinion. Paul had a desire for him to go with him, and he gave him circumcision because of the Jews who were in those parts: for they all had knowledge that his father was a Greek. And on their way through the towns, they gave them the rules which had been made by the Apostles and the rulers of the church at Jerusalem, so that they might keep them. So the churches were made strong in the faith and were increased in number every day. And after they had gone through the land of Phrygia and Galatia, the Holy Spirit did not let them take the word into Asia; And having come to Mysia, they made an attempt to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not let them; And going past Mysia, they came down to Troas. And Paul had a vision in the night; a man of Macedonia came, requesting him, and saying, Come over into Macedonia and give us help. And when he had seen the vision, straight away we made the decision to go into Macedonia, for it seemed certain to us that God had sent us to give the good news to them. So, from Troas we went straight by ship to Samothrace and the day after to Neapolis; And from there to Philippi, which is the most important town of Macedonia and a Roman colony: and we were there for some days. And on the Sabbath we went outside the town, by the river, where we had an idea that there would be a place of prayer; and, being seated, we had talk with the women who had come together. And a certain woman named Lydia, a trader in purple cloth of the town of Thyatira, and a God-fearing woman, gave ear to us: whose heart the Lord made open to give attention to the things which Paul was saying. And when she and her family had had baptism, she made a request to us, saying, If it seems to you that I am true to the Lord, come into my house and be my guests. And she made us come. And when we were going to the place of prayer, we came across a girl with a spirit which gave knowledge of the future, whose masters made great profit from her power. She came after Paul and us, crying out and saying, These men are the servants of the Most High God, who are giving you news of the way of salvation. And this she did on a number of days. But Paul was greatly troubled and, turning, said to the spirit, I give you orders in the name of Jesus Christ, to come out of her. And it came out that very hour. But when her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they took Paul and Silas, pulling them into the market-place before the rulers; And when they had taken them before the authorities, they said, These men, who are Jews, are greatly troubling our town; Teaching rules of living which it is not right for us to have or to keep, being Romans. And the people made an attack on them all together: and the authorities took their clothing off them, and gave orders for them to be whipped. And when they had given them a great number of blows, they put them in prison, giving orders to the keeper of the prison to keep them safely: And he, having such orders, put them into the inner prison with chains on their feet. But about the middle of the night, Paul and Silas were making prayers and songs to God in the hearing of the prisoners; And suddenly there was an earth-shock, so that the base of the prison was moved: and all the doors came open, and everyone's chains came off. And the keeper, coming out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, took his sword and was about to put himself to death, fearing that the prisoners had got away. But Paul said in a loud voice, Do yourself no damage, for we are all here. And he sent for lights and came rushing in and, shaking with fear, went down on his face before Paul and Silas, And took them out and said, Sirs, what have I to do to get salvation? And they said, Have faith in the Lord Jesus, and you and your family will have salvation. And they gave the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. And that same hour of the night, he took them, and when he had given attention to their wounds, he and all his family had baptism straight away. And he took them into his house and gave them food, and he was full of joy, having faith in God with all his family. But when it was day, the authorities sent the police, saying, Let these men go. And the keeper said to Paul, The authorities have given orders to let you go: come out now, and go in peace. But Paul said to them, They have given us who are Romans a public whipping without judging us, and have put us in prison. Will they now send us out secretly? no, truly, let them come themselves and take us out. And the police gave an account of these words to the authorities, and they were full of fear on hearing that they were Romans; Then they came and made prayers to them, requesting them, when they had taken them out, to go away from the town. And they came out of the prison and went to the house of Lydia: and when they had seen the brothers they gave them comfort and went away. Now when they had gone through Amphipolis and Apollonia they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Synagogue of the Jews: And Paul, as he generally did, went in to them, and on three Sabbath days had discussions with them from the holy Writings, Saying to them clearly and openly that Christ had to be put to death and come back to life again; and that this Jesus, whom, he said, I am preaching to you, is the Christ. And some of them had faith, and were joined to Paul and Silas; and a number of the God-fearing Greeks, and some of the chief women. But the Jews, being moved with envy, took with them certain low persons from among the common people, and getting together a great number of people, made an outcry in the town, attacking the house of Jason with the purpose of taking them out to the people. And when they were not able to get them, they took Jason and some of the brothers by force before the rulers of the town, crying, These men, who have made trouble all over the world have now come here; Whom Jason has taken into his house: and they are acting against the orders of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus. And hearing these things the people and the rulers of the town were troubled. And having made Jason and the others give an undertaking to keep the peace, they let them go. And the brothers straight away sent Paul and Silas away by night to Beroea: and they, when they came there, went to the Synagogue of the Jews. Now these were more noble than the Jews of Thessalonica, for they gave serious attention to the word, searching in the holy Writings every day, to see if these things were so. And a number of them had faith, and no small number of the Greek women of high position and of the men. But when the Jews of Thessalonica had news that Paul was preaching the word at Beroea, they came there, troubling the people and working them up. So the brothers sent Paul straight away to the sea: but Silas and Timothy kept there still. But those who went with Paul took him as far as Athens, and then went away, with orders from him to Silas and Timothy to come to him quickly. Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was troubled, for he saw all the town full of images of the gods. So he had discussions in the Synagogue with the Jews and God-fearing Gentiles, and every day in the market-place with those who were there. And some of those who were supporters of the theories of the Epicureans and the Stoics, had a meeting with him. And some said, What is this talker of foolish words saying? And others, He seems to be a preacher of strange gods: because he was preaching of Jesus and his coming back from the dead. And they took him to Mars' Hill, saying, Will you make clear to us what is this new teaching of yours? For you seem to us to say strange things, and we have a desire to get the sense of them. (Now all the Athenians and the men from other lands who come there were giving all their time to talking or hearing of anything new.) And Paul got to his feet on Mars' Hill and said, O men of Athens, I see that you are overmuch given to fear of the gods. For when I came by, I was looking at the things to which you give worship, and I saw an altar with this writing on it, TO THE GOD OF WHOM THERE IS NO KNOWLEDGE. Now, what you, without knowledge, give worship to, I make clear to you. The God who made the earth and everything in it, he, being Lord of heaven and earth, is not housed in buildings made with hands; And he is not dependent on the work of men's hands, as if he had need of anything, for he himself gives to all life and breath and all things; And he has made of one blood all the nations of men living on all the face of the earth, ordering their times and the limits of their lands, So that they might make search for God, in order, if possible, to get knowledge of him and make discovery of him, though he is not far from every one of us: For in him we have life and motion and existence; as certain of your verse writers have said, For we are his offspring. If then we are the offspring of God, it is not right for us to have the idea that God is like gold or silver or stone, formed by the art or design of man. Those times when men had no knowledge were overlooked by God; but now he gives orders to all men in every place to undergo a change of heart: Because a day has been fixed in which all the world will be judged in righteousness by the man who has been marked out by him for this work; of which he has given a sign to all men by giving him back from the dead. Now on hearing about the coming back from death, some of them made sport of it, but others said, Let us go more fully into this another time. And so Paul went away from among them. But some men gave him their support: among whom was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them. After these things, he went away from Athens, and came to Corinth. And there he came across a certain Jew named Aquila, a man of Pontus by birth, who not long before had come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had given orders that all Jews were to go away from Rome: and he came to them; And because he was of the same trade, he was living with them, and they did their work together; for by trade they were tent-makers. And every Sabbath he had discussions in the Synagogue, turning Jews and Greeks to the faith. And when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul was completely given up to the word, preaching to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus. And when they put themselves against him, and said evil words, he said, shaking his clothing, Your blood be on your heads, I am clean: from now I will go to the Gentiles. And moving from there, he went into the house of a man named Titus Justus, a God-fearing man, whose house was very near the Synagogue. And Crispus, the ruler of the Synagogue, with all his family, had faith in the Lord; and a great number of the people of Corinth, hearing the word, had faith and were given baptism. And the Lord said to Paul in the night, in a vision, Have no fear and go on preaching: For I am with you, and no one will make an attack on you to do you damage: for I have a number of people in this town. And he was there for a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them. But when Gallio was ruler of Achaia, all the Jews together made an attack on Paul, and took him to the judge's seat, Saying, This man is teaching the people to give worship to God in a way which is against the law. But when Paul was about to say something, Gallio said to the Jews, If this was anything to do with wrongdoing or crime, there would be a reason for me to give you a hearing: But if it is a question of words or names or of your law, see to it yourselves; I will not be a judge of such things. And he sent them away from the judge's seat. And they all made an attack on Sosthenes, the ruler of the Synagogue, and gave him blows before the judge's seat; but Gallio gave no attention to these things. And Paul, after waiting some days, went away from the brothers and went by ship to Syria, Priscilla and Aquila being with him; and he had had his hair cut off in Cenchrea, for he had taken an oath. And they came down to Ephesus and he left them there: and he himself went into the Synagogue and had a discussion with the Jews. And being requested by them to be there for a longer time, he said, No; And went from them, saying, I will come back to you if God lets me; and he took ship from Ephesus. And when he had come to land at Caesarea, he went to see the church, and then went down to Antioch.