And those conducting Paul brought him to Athens, and receiving a charge to Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as possible, they departed. And while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was moved within him as he saw the city wholly devoted to idolatry. Then he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and those that were pious, and in the market every day with those he met. read more.
And some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers disputed with him, and some said, What does this trifler mean to say? And others, He seems to be a preacher of strange demons; because he preached to them Jesus and the resurrection. And laying hold of him they brought him to the Areopagus, saying, May we know what this new teaching is which is taught by you? for you bring certain strange things to our ears; we wish therefore to know what these things mean. And all the Athenians and the strangers living there spend their leisure in nothing else but telling or hearing something new. And Paul standing in the midst of the Areopagus said, Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are extremely devoted to the worship of demons. For as I passed through, and observed your objects of worship, I found also an altar on which was inscribed, TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. What therefore you worship as unknown, this I declare to you. The God who made the world and all things in it, this [God] being Lord of heaven and earth dwells not in temples made with hands, neither is he served by the hands of men as needing any thing, since he gives to all life, and breath, and all things; and he made of one blood every nation of men to live on all the face of the earth, determining their appointed times and the bounds of their habitation, that they should seek God, if perhaps they might feel after and find him, and indeed he is not far from every one of us. For in him we live, and move, and are; as some also of your own poets have said, For we are his offspring. Being therefore an offspring of God, we ought not to think the Deity to be like gold or silver or stone, a work of art and human device. Overlooking therefore the times of ignorance, God now commands all men everywhere to change their minds, because he has appointed a day in which he is about to judge the world in righteousness, by the man whom he has appointed, giving assurance to all by raising him from the dead. But when they heard of a resurrection of the dead, some scoffed; but others said, We will hear you again of this. So Paul went out from the midst of them; but certain men adhering to him believed, among whom were Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.

When therefore we could no longer refrain, we thought it best to be left alone at Athens, Verse ConceptsIsolated PersonsPeople Abandoning People