Thematic Bible
Thematic Bible
Athens » A city » A city of greece
Those who were caring for Paul brought him as far as Athens, and there left him, with instructions to Silas and Timothy to come to him with all speed. While Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred within him, when he noticed that the city was full of idols. He argued in the synagogues with the Jews and the devout proselytes, and also daily in the market-place with those that met him there. read more.
A few of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also encountered him again and again. Some were saying, "What has this beggarly fellow to say?" Others said, "He seems to be a setter forth of strange gods," because he preached Jesus and the resurrection. Then they laid hold of him and brought him up to Mars Hill, saying. "May we be told what this new teaching of yours is? "For you are bringing certain strange things to our ears. We want to know, therefore, what these things mean." (Now all the Athenians and the strangers sojourning there spent their time in nothing else, but to tell or to hear some new thing.) So Paul stood up in the center of Mars Hill, and said: "Men of Athens, I perceive that in all respects you are remarkably religious. "For as I was passing along and observing your objects of worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, 'TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.' What you are worshiping in ignorance, this I am proclaiming to you. "The God who made the universe and all things in it, he, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands, "neither is he served by men's hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all life and breath and all things. "He has made of one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed seasons and the bounds of their habitation, "so that they might seek God, if perhaps they might feel after him and find him, though he is not far from every on of us; "for in him we live and move and have our being; as certain even of your own poets have said, "'For we also are his offspring.' "Since then we are God's offspring, we ought not to imagine that the Godhead is like to gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and device of man. "The times of ignorance God overlooked, but he now commands all men that they should all, everywhere, repent; inasmuch as he has fixed a day in which he will judge the world justly, by the Man whom he has ordained, and he has given proof of all this by raising him from the dead." But on hearing of the resurrection of the dead, some began to mock; but others said, "We will hear you again on that subject." So Paul withdrew from them. A few, however, attached themselves to him and believed, among whom was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and some others.
A few of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also encountered him again and again. Some were saying, "What has this beggarly fellow to say?" Others said, "He seems to be a setter forth of strange gods," because he preached Jesus and the resurrection. Then they laid hold of him and brought him up to Mars Hill, saying. "May we be told what this new teaching of yours is? "For you are bringing certain strange things to our ears. We want to know, therefore, what these things mean." (Now all the Athenians and the strangers sojourning there spent their time in nothing else, but to tell or to hear some new thing.) So Paul stood up in the center of Mars Hill, and said: "Men of Athens, I perceive that in all respects you are remarkably religious. "For as I was passing along and observing your objects of worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, 'TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.' What you are worshiping in ignorance, this I am proclaiming to you. "The God who made the universe and all things in it, he, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands, "neither is he served by men's hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all life and breath and all things. "He has made of one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed seasons and the bounds of their habitation, "so that they might seek God, if perhaps they might feel after him and find him, though he is not far from every on of us; "for in him we live and move and have our being; as certain even of your own poets have said, "'For we also are his offspring.' "Since then we are God's offspring, we ought not to imagine that the Godhead is like to gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and device of man. "The times of ignorance God overlooked, but he now commands all men that they should all, everywhere, repent; inasmuch as he has fixed a day in which he will judge the world justly, by the Man whom he has ordained, and he has given proof of all this by raising him from the dead." But on hearing of the resurrection of the dead, some began to mock; but others said, "We will hear you again on that subject." So Paul withdrew from them. A few, however, attached themselves to him and believed, among whom was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and some others.
And so, when I could no longer bear it, I made up my mind to be left behind at Athens, all alone.
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Attributes of God » Omnipresence
"so that they might seek God, if perhaps they might feel after him and find him, though he is not far from every on of us;
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Children » Who are the children of God
"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
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He who overcomes will inherit these, And I will be his God, And he shall be my son.
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"But you must love even your enemies and be kind to them, And lend, despairing of no man. Then your reward will be great, And you will be the sons of the Most High; For he is kind even to the ungrateful and to the evil.
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"Nay, but who are you, O man, that replies to God? Shall the thing formed say unto him who formed it, "Why did you do me like this?" Or has not the potter power over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for noble, and another for ignoble uses? But what if God, while intending to show forth his wrath, and to make known his power, yet endured, with much long-suffering, vessels of wrath, fitted to destruction? read more.
And what if he thus purposed to make known the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy, which he had before prepared for glory? Now such are we whom he has called, not only from among the Jews, but also from among the Gentiles. As he also said in Hosea. Those who were not my people I will call "my people," And her "beloved" who was not beloved; And in that very spot where it was told them, "You are not my people," There they shall be called "Sons of the living God."
And what if he thus purposed to make known the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy, which he had before prepared for glory? Now such are we whom he has called, not only from among the Jews, but also from among the Gentiles. As he also said in Hosea. Those who were not my people I will call "my people," And her "beloved" who was not beloved; And in that very spot where it was told them, "You are not my people," There they shall be called "Sons of the living God."
"For as I was passing along and observing your objects of worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, 'TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.' What you are worshiping in ignorance, this I am proclaiming to you. "The God who made the universe and all things in it, he, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands, "neither is he served by men's hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all life and breath and all things. read more.
"He has made of one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed seasons and the bounds of their habitation, "so that they might seek God, if perhaps they might feel after him and find him, though he is not far from every on of us; "for in him we live and move and have our being; as certain even of your own poets have said, "'For we also are his offspring.' "Since then we are God's offspring, we ought not to imagine that the Godhead is like to gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and device of man.
"He has made of one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed seasons and the bounds of their habitation, "so that they might seek God, if perhaps they might feel after him and find him, though he is not far from every on of us; "for in him we live and move and have our being; as certain even of your own poets have said, "'For we also are his offspring.' "Since then we are God's offspring, we ought not to imagine that the Godhead is like to gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and device of man.
For only those are sons of God who are led by God's Spirit. For you have not received a spirit of slavery in order that you should once more be afraid; but you have received a spirit of adoption, in which we cry out, "My Father, my dear Father!" For his Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit, that we are children of God; read more.
and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ; but to share his glory, we must now be sharing his sufferings.
and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ; but to share his glory, we must now be sharing his sufferings.
Be not unequally yoked with unbelievers; for what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? what communion has light with darkness? What concord has Christ with Belial? What portion has a believer with an unbeliever? And what compact has God's temple with idols? For we are a temple of the living God, as he has said: I will dwell among them, and walk about among them; I will be their God, and they will be my people. read more.
Therefore, Come out from among them and separate yourselves, saith the Lord, touch not what is unclean; then I will receive you and will be to you a Father, and you shall be to me sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
Therefore, Come out from among them and separate yourselves, saith the Lord, touch not what is unclean; then I will receive you and will be to you a Father, and you shall be to me sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
Do everything without grumbling and disputes, that you may become blameless and innocent, the sons of God, without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine like stars in a dark world,
Behold what manner of love the Father has given us in allowing us to be called "Children of God!" And that is what we are. For this reason the world does not recognize us, because it did not know him. We are God's children now, beloved; what we shall be has never yet been made manifest. But we know that when he is manifested we shall be like him; for we shall see him even as he is.
Closeness » The lord being near
"so that they might seek God, if perhaps they might feel after him and find him, though he is not far from every on of us;
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Gentiles » Unclassified sciptures relating to
Some were persuaded and attached themselves to Paul and Silas, including a number of devout Greeks, and a large number of the leading women.
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This then I tell you and implore you in the Master's name, to pass your lives no longer as the Gentiles do in the perverseness of their minds; having their understanding darkened, alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardening of their hearts. These being past feeling have given themselves over to sensuality, in order to practise every form of impurity with greedy zest.
"Then do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'" "For all these are things that the Gentiles are eagerly seeking; for your heavenly Father knows that you have need of them all.
were once upon a time without Christ, aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers to the covenants of the Promise, without hope and without God in the world.
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On the contrary, what the heathen sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to have communion with demons.
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"While praying do not say the same words over and over again, as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that by their much speaking they will gain attention. "Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
In bygone generations he allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways,
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While Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred within him, when he noticed that the city was full of idols. He argued in the synagogues with the Jews and the devout proselytes, and also daily in the market-place with those that met him there.
So Paul stood up in the center of Mars Hill, and said: "Men of Athens, I perceive that in all respects you are remarkably religious. "For as I was passing along and observing your objects of worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, 'TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.' What you are worshiping in ignorance, this I am proclaiming to you. "The God who made the universe and all things in it, he, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands, read more.
"neither is he served by men's hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all life and breath and all things. "He has made of one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed seasons and the bounds of their habitation, "so that they might seek God, if perhaps they might feel after him and find him, though he is not far from every on of us;
"neither is he served by men's hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all life and breath and all things. "He has made of one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed seasons and the bounds of their habitation, "so that they might seek God, if perhaps they might feel after him and find him, though he is not far from every on of us;
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For God's wrath is ever being revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who smother the truth by their unrighteousness. This is so because that which may be known of God is manifest among them; for God has made it manifest to them. For ever since the creation of the world his invisible nature, even his everlasting power and divinity, has been clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made. So they have no excuse. read more.
For although they knew God, yet they did not glorify him as God, nor give him thanks; but became vain in their reasoning, and their senseless minds were darkened. While they professed to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the majesty of the imperishable God for an idol, graven in the likeness of perishable man, or of birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things. So God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their own bodies; because they exchanged the truth of God for an untruth, and worshiped and served the creature, rather than the Creator who is blessed forever. Amen. That is why God has given them up to passions of dishonor; for on the one hand their women actually changed the natural function of sex into that which is against nature; and on the other hand their men likewise abandoned the natural use of women, and were ablaze with passion for one another; men with men practising shameless acts and receiving in their own person that recompense of their wrong-doing which necessarily followed. And just as they refused to continue to retain God in their knowledge, so did God cast them out to an outcast mind, to do those things which were indecent. They were overflowing with every kind of iniquity, depravity, greed, and malice. They were full of envy, murder, quarreling, deceit, and malignity. They became whisperers, back-biters, hated of God, insolent, haughty, boastful. They invented sins. They were disobedient to parents. They were without sense, without faith, without natural affection, without mercy. Though they knew well the ordinance of God, that those who practise such vices are worthy of death, they not only continue to do the same, but were even applauding those who practise vice.
For although they knew God, yet they did not glorify him as God, nor give him thanks; but became vain in their reasoning, and their senseless minds were darkened. While they professed to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the majesty of the imperishable God for an idol, graven in the likeness of perishable man, or of birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things. So God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their own bodies; because they exchanged the truth of God for an untruth, and worshiped and served the creature, rather than the Creator who is blessed forever. Amen. That is why God has given them up to passions of dishonor; for on the one hand their women actually changed the natural function of sex into that which is against nature; and on the other hand their men likewise abandoned the natural use of women, and were ablaze with passion for one another; men with men practising shameless acts and receiving in their own person that recompense of their wrong-doing which necessarily followed. And just as they refused to continue to retain God in their knowledge, so did God cast them out to an outcast mind, to do those things which were indecent. They were overflowing with every kind of iniquity, depravity, greed, and malice. They were full of envy, murder, quarreling, deceit, and malignity. They became whisperers, back-biters, hated of God, insolent, haughty, boastful. They invented sins. They were disobedient to parents. They were without sense, without faith, without natural affection, without mercy. Though they knew well the ordinance of God, that those who practise such vices are worthy of death, they not only continue to do the same, but were even applauding those who practise vice.
You are therefore inexcusable, O man, whoever you are, that sits in judgment; for in judging another you are condemning yourself. You, the judge, are habitually practising the very same things. "We know that God's judgment against those who practise such vices is in accord with the truth," you say? Very well; and do you suppose, you who judge those that practise such vices, and are doing the very same, that you will elude the judgment of God? read more.
Or do you despise the riches of his kindness and forbearance and long patience? Do you not know that the kindness of God is leading you to repentance? In your hardness and impenitence of heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath on the Day of Wrath, when the righteous judgment of God is revealed. For He will render to every man according to his works; eternal life to those who by patience in well-doing strive for glory and honor and immortality; but anger and wrath upon those who are self-willed and disobey the truth, but obey unrighteousness. Anguish and calamity will be upon every soul of man who practices evil, upon the Jew first, and also upon the Gentile; but glory and honor and peace to every man who does good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile. For there is no partiality with God. For all who have sinned without law will also perish without law; and all who have sinned under law will be judged by law. For it is not the hearers of law who are righteous in the eyes of God; nay, it is the doers of law who will be accounted righteous. For when Gentiles, who have no law, obey by natural instinct the commands of the Law, they even though they have no law, are a law to themselves. For they show that the work of the Law is written in their hearts, while their conscience bears them witness, as their reasonings accuse, or it may be defend, them,
Or do you despise the riches of his kindness and forbearance and long patience? Do you not know that the kindness of God is leading you to repentance? In your hardness and impenitence of heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath on the Day of Wrath, when the righteous judgment of God is revealed. For He will render to every man according to his works; eternal life to those who by patience in well-doing strive for glory and honor and immortality; but anger and wrath upon those who are self-willed and disobey the truth, but obey unrighteousness. Anguish and calamity will be upon every soul of man who practices evil, upon the Jew first, and also upon the Gentile; but glory and honor and peace to every man who does good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile. For there is no partiality with God. For all who have sinned without law will also perish without law; and all who have sinned under law will be judged by law. For it is not the hearers of law who are righteous in the eyes of God; nay, it is the doers of law who will be accounted righteous. For when Gentiles, who have no law, obey by natural instinct the commands of the Law, they even though they have no law, are a law to themselves. For they show that the work of the Law is written in their hearts, while their conscience bears them witness, as their reasonings accuse, or it may be defend, them,
You know that when you were heathen you went astray after dumb idols, wherever he be led.
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"We are Jews by birth, and not 'Gentile sinners';
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For it is a shame even to speak of the things that are done by such men in secret;
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That each one should learn how to take a wife in purity and honor.
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For the time past of life may suffice us to have worked the will of the Gentiles, when we spent our life in lasciviousness, lusts, hard drinking, revelry, banqueting, and abominable idol worship. They are astonished at this, that you do not run into the same excesses of profligacy as they do; and they speak evil of you.
God » Mercy of » Nearness of
"so that they might seek God, if perhaps they might feel after him and find him, though he is not far from every on of us;
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God » Mercy of » Omnipresence of
"so that they might seek God, if perhaps they might feel after him and find him, though he is not far from every on of us;
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God » Remember » Search for
"so that they might seek God, if perhaps they might feel after him and find him, though he is not far from every on of us;
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Mar's hill » Hill » Athens
Then they laid hold of him and brought him up to Mars Hill, saying. "May we be told what this new teaching of yours is? "For you are bringing certain strange things to our ears. We want to know, therefore, what these things mean." (Now all the Athenians and the strangers sojourning there spent their time in nothing else, but to tell or to hear some new thing.) read more.
So Paul stood up in the center of Mars Hill, and said: "Men of Athens, I perceive that in all respects you are remarkably religious. "For as I was passing along and observing your objects of worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, 'TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.' What you are worshiping in ignorance, this I am proclaiming to you. "The God who made the universe and all things in it, he, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands, "neither is he served by men's hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all life and breath and all things. "He has made of one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed seasons and the bounds of their habitation, "so that they might seek God, if perhaps they might feel after him and find him, though he is not far from every on of us; "for in him we live and move and have our being; as certain even of your own poets have said, "'For we also are his offspring.' "Since then we are God's offspring, we ought not to imagine that the Godhead is like to gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and device of man. "The times of ignorance God overlooked, but he now commands all men that they should all, everywhere, repent; inasmuch as he has fixed a day in which he will judge the world justly, by the Man whom he has ordained, and he has given proof of all this by raising him from the dead." But on hearing of the resurrection of the dead, some began to mock; but others said, "We will hear you again on that subject." So Paul withdrew from them. A few, however, attached themselves to him and believed, among whom was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and some others.
So Paul stood up in the center of Mars Hill, and said: "Men of Athens, I perceive that in all respects you are remarkably religious. "For as I was passing along and observing your objects of worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, 'TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.' What you are worshiping in ignorance, this I am proclaiming to you. "The God who made the universe and all things in it, he, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands, "neither is he served by men's hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all life and breath and all things. "He has made of one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed seasons and the bounds of their habitation, "so that they might seek God, if perhaps they might feel after him and find him, though he is not far from every on of us; "for in him we live and move and have our being; as certain even of your own poets have said, "'For we also are his offspring.' "Since then we are God's offspring, we ought not to imagine that the Godhead is like to gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and device of man. "The times of ignorance God overlooked, but he now commands all men that they should all, everywhere, repent; inasmuch as he has fixed a day in which he will judge the world justly, by the Man whom he has ordained, and he has given proof of all this by raising him from the dead." But on hearing of the resurrection of the dead, some began to mock; but others said, "We will hear you again on that subject." So Paul withdrew from them. A few, however, attached themselves to him and believed, among whom was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and some others.
Missionary journeys » Ac 13-14 » Second - with silas
And after some days Paul said to Barnabas, "Let is go back and visit the brothers in every city in which we have proclaimed the word of the Lord. Let us see how they fare." Now Barnabas wanted to take with them John, who was called Mark. But Paul thought it unwise to take with them one who had deserted them to the Pamphylia, and had not gone on with them to the work. read more.
So there arose a sharp irritation, so that they parted company; Barnabas taking Mark with him, sailed away to Cyprus; while Paul chose Silas, and set forth commended by the brothers to the grace of God. He went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches. And he came also to Derbe and Lystra, where there was a certain disciple named Timothy, the son of a believing Jewess, and of a Greek father. He was well spoken of by the brothers in Lystra and Iconiun. Now Paul, wishing that this man should accompany him on his journey, took him and circumcised him because of the local Jews, who all knew that his father was a Greek. And as they went on their way through the cities they handed them the resolutions which the apostles and the elders in Jerusalem had ordained for them to keep. So the churches were strengthened in the faith and continued to increase in number daily. Then they went through Phrygia and Galatia, the Holy Spirit having forbidden them to proclaim the message in Asia. When they got as far as Mysia, they attempted to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not permit it; and so they passed by Mysia and went on down to Troas. Here a vision appeared to Paul in the night. There stood a man of Macedonia, entreating him and saying, "Come over into Macedonia and help us!" So when he had seen the vision, we sought at once to go forth into Macedonia, because we concluded that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. So we set sail from Troas and ran a straight course to Samothrace. The next day we arrived in Neapolis, and thence came to Philippi, a city of Macedonia, the fore most in its district, a Roman colony. There we stayed for some time. On the Sabbath Day we went outside the city gate, to a riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer; and we sat down and talked to the women who had gathered there. Among them was a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, who belonged to the town of Thyatira. She, since she was a worshiper of God, listened to us, and the Lord opened her heart to attend to what Paul said. When she was baptized, and her household, she urged us, saying, "If in your judgment I am a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my house." And she compelled us to come. Now as we were going to the place of prayer, a certain slave girl met us, who had a spirit of divination, and who brought her masters great gain by fortune-telling. She used to follow after Paul and us, crying out again and again, "These men are servants of the most high God, who proclaimed to you the way of salvation." She persisted in this for many days, until Paul, worn out, turned round and said to the spirit, "I charge you, in the name of Jesus Christ, to come out of her." In that very hour it came out of her. But when her owners saw that their hopes of gain were gone, they seized Paul and Silas, and dragged them before the magistrates, into the market-place. Then they brought them before the praetors, saying. "These fellows are Jews, who are making a great disturbance in our city. "They are teaching customs which it is not lawful for us as Romans to adopt or practise." The crowd, too, rose up together against them, and the praetors, after having them stripped, and after ordering them to be flogged, had many lashes inflicted upon them, and put them in prison, with a charge to the jailer to keep them safe. On receiving so strict an order he cast them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks. But at midnight, while Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the very foundations of the prison-house were shaken; and instantly all the doors were opened, and every one's chains fell off. The jailer, roused from sleep, and seeing the doors wide open, drew his sword and was about to kill himself, because he thought that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted loudly to him. "Do yourself no harm; for we are all here!" So he called for lights, and sprang in, and, trembling for fear, fell down before Paul and Silas, and brought them out, saying, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" "Believe on the Lord Jesus," they answered, "and you will be saved, you and all your household." Then they spoke the message of the Lord to him, as well as to all who were in his house. And he took them, the same hour of the night, and washed their wounds, and he was baptized at once, he and all his. And after bringing them up into his house, he set food before them, overjoyed with all his household in having believed in God. But in the morning the praetors sent their lictors with the order, "Let these men go." The jailer reported the words to Paul, saying. "The praetors have sent to release you; so come out, and go in peace." But Paul said: "They have flogged us publicly, uncondemned, men that are Roman citizens; and have thrown us into prison. Are they now going to get rid of us secretly? No, indeed! Let them come here, themselves and take us out." The lictors reported these words to the praetors, who were frightened when they heard that they were Romans. So they came and conciliated them, and after taking them out of prison, begged them to leave the town. So Paul and Silas came out of the prison, and went to Lydia's house; and after they had seen the brethren and encouraged them, they left Philippi. Now when they had gone through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica. Here there was a Jewish synagogue, and Paul, according to his usual custom, went in to them and, for three Sabbath Days, he reasoned with them out of the Scriptures, explaining and quoting passages to prove that the Messiah had to suffer and to rise again from the dead and that "This Jesus whom I am proclaiming unto you is the Messiah." Some were persuaded and attached themselves to Paul and Silas, including a number of devout Greeks, and a large number of the leading women. But the Jews, moved with jealousy, called to their aid certain ill-favored and idle fellows, formed a mob, and began to set the town in an uproar. Assaulting the house of Jason, they sought to bring them out to the people. And when they had failed to find Paul and Silas, they began to drag Jason and some of the brethren before the politarchs, shouting. "These fellows who have upset the habitable earth are come hither also. "Jason has received them, and they all act contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus." Both the crowd and the politarchs were disturbed when they heard this, but when they had taken security from Jason and the rest, they let them go. Now the brothers sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. When they got there they betook themselves to the Jewish synagogue. The Jews of Berea were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they very readily received the message with all readiness of mind, and day after day searched the Scriptures to see whether these things were so. So many of them became believers, and so did not a few Greeks, women of honorable estate, and men. As soon as the Jews in Thessalonica learned that the word of God was preached by Paul in Berea also, they came there, and stirred up and troubled the crowds. Then the brothers at once sent Paul down to the sea, but Silas and Timothy remained behind. Those who were caring for Paul brought him as far as Athens, and there left him, with instructions to Silas and Timothy to come to him with all speed. While Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred within him, when he noticed that the city was full of idols. He argued in the synagogues with the Jews and the devout proselytes, and also daily in the market-place with those that met him there. A few of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also encountered him again and again. Some were saying, "What has this beggarly fellow to say?" Others said, "He seems to be a setter forth of strange gods," because he preached Jesus and the resurrection. Then they laid hold of him and brought him up to Mars Hill, saying. "May we be told what this new teaching of yours is? "For you are bringing certain strange things to our ears. We want to know, therefore, what these things mean." (Now all the Athenians and the strangers sojourning there spent their time in nothing else, but to tell or to hear some new thing.) So Paul stood up in the center of Mars Hill, and said: "Men of Athens, I perceive that in all respects you are remarkably religious. "For as I was passing along and observing your objects of worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, 'TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.' What you are worshiping in ignorance, this I am proclaiming to you. "The God who made the universe and all things in it, he, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands, "neither is he served by men's hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all life and breath and all things. "He has made of one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed seasons and the bounds of their habitation, "so that they might seek God, if perhaps they might feel after him and find him, though he is not far from every on of us; "for in him we live and move and have our being; as certain even of your own poets have said, "'For we also are his offspring.' "Since then we are God's offspring, we ought not to imagine that the Godhead is like to gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and device of man. "The times of ignorance God overlooked, but he now commands all men that they should all, everywhere, repent; inasmuch as he has fixed a day in which he will judge the world justly, by the Man whom he has ordained, and he has given proof of all this by raising him from the dead." But on hearing of the resurrection of the dead, some began to mock; but others said, "We will hear you again on that subject." So Paul withdrew from them. A few, however, attached themselves to him and believed, among whom was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and some others. After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. Here he found a certain Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife, Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome. Paul came to them, and because he was of the same trade with them, he lodged with them, and worked with them??or by trade they were tentmakers. Every Sabbath he used to preach in the synagogue, and tried to persuade both Jews and Greeks. And when Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was engrossed in his message, earnestly testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah. But as they opposed him and abused him, he shook out his garments in protest, and said: "Your blood be upon your own hands. I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles." So he left the place, and went into the house of a man named Titus Justus, a worshiper of God, whose house adjoined the synagogue. And Crispus, the warden of the synagogue, believed on the Lord, with all his household; and many of the Corinthians from time to time listened, believed, and were baptized. And the Lord said to Paul in a vision, by night. "Have no fear; go on speaking, and do not keep silent; "for I am with you, and no one shall set upon you to injure you; for I have very many people in this city." So he lived there a year and six months and continued to teach them the word of God. But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews with one accord rose against Paul, and brought him before the tribunal. "This fellow," they said, "is persuading men to offer unlawful worship to God." Paul was about to open his mouth, when Gallio said to the Jews. "If it had been some misdemeanor or wicked villainy, it would have been within reason for me to listen to you Jews; but as these are merely questions about words and names and your own law, you yourselves must see to it. I am not willing to be a judge of these matters." And he drove them from the tribunal. Then they all laid hold of Sosthenes, the warden of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the tribunal; but Gallio took no notice. And Paul after remaining in Corinth some time longer, took leave of the brothers, and sailed away to Syria, accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. As Paul was under a vow, he had his head shaved at Cenchrea. When they came to Ephesus he left them there; but he himself entered into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. When they begged him to stay longer, he would not consent, but said, as he took leave of them, "I will return again to you, if God will." Then, setting sail from Ephesus, he landed at Caesarea; he went up to Jerusalem and saluted the church, and came down to Antioch.
So there arose a sharp irritation, so that they parted company; Barnabas taking Mark with him, sailed away to Cyprus; while Paul chose Silas, and set forth commended by the brothers to the grace of God. He went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches. And he came also to Derbe and Lystra, where there was a certain disciple named Timothy, the son of a believing Jewess, and of a Greek father. He was well spoken of by the brothers in Lystra and Iconiun. Now Paul, wishing that this man should accompany him on his journey, took him and circumcised him because of the local Jews, who all knew that his father was a Greek. And as they went on their way through the cities they handed them the resolutions which the apostles and the elders in Jerusalem had ordained for them to keep. So the churches were strengthened in the faith and continued to increase in number daily. Then they went through Phrygia and Galatia, the Holy Spirit having forbidden them to proclaim the message in Asia. When they got as far as Mysia, they attempted to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not permit it; and so they passed by Mysia and went on down to Troas. Here a vision appeared to Paul in the night. There stood a man of Macedonia, entreating him and saying, "Come over into Macedonia and help us!" So when he had seen the vision, we sought at once to go forth into Macedonia, because we concluded that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. So we set sail from Troas and ran a straight course to Samothrace. The next day we arrived in Neapolis, and thence came to Philippi, a city of Macedonia, the fore most in its district, a Roman colony. There we stayed for some time. On the Sabbath Day we went outside the city gate, to a riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer; and we sat down and talked to the women who had gathered there. Among them was a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, who belonged to the town of Thyatira. She, since she was a worshiper of God, listened to us, and the Lord opened her heart to attend to what Paul said. When she was baptized, and her household, she urged us, saying, "If in your judgment I am a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my house." And she compelled us to come. Now as we were going to the place of prayer, a certain slave girl met us, who had a spirit of divination, and who brought her masters great gain by fortune-telling. She used to follow after Paul and us, crying out again and again, "These men are servants of the most high God, who proclaimed to you the way of salvation." She persisted in this for many days, until Paul, worn out, turned round and said to the spirit, "I charge you, in the name of Jesus Christ, to come out of her." In that very hour it came out of her. But when her owners saw that their hopes of gain were gone, they seized Paul and Silas, and dragged them before the magistrates, into the market-place. Then they brought them before the praetors, saying. "These fellows are Jews, who are making a great disturbance in our city. "They are teaching customs which it is not lawful for us as Romans to adopt or practise." The crowd, too, rose up together against them, and the praetors, after having them stripped, and after ordering them to be flogged, had many lashes inflicted upon them, and put them in prison, with a charge to the jailer to keep them safe. On receiving so strict an order he cast them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks. But at midnight, while Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the very foundations of the prison-house were shaken; and instantly all the doors were opened, and every one's chains fell off. The jailer, roused from sleep, and seeing the doors wide open, drew his sword and was about to kill himself, because he thought that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted loudly to him. "Do yourself no harm; for we are all here!" So he called for lights, and sprang in, and, trembling for fear, fell down before Paul and Silas, and brought them out, saying, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" "Believe on the Lord Jesus," they answered, "and you will be saved, you and all your household." Then they spoke the message of the Lord to him, as well as to all who were in his house. And he took them, the same hour of the night, and washed their wounds, and he was baptized at once, he and all his. And after bringing them up into his house, he set food before them, overjoyed with all his household in having believed in God. But in the morning the praetors sent their lictors with the order, "Let these men go." The jailer reported the words to Paul, saying. "The praetors have sent to release you; so come out, and go in peace." But Paul said: "They have flogged us publicly, uncondemned, men that are Roman citizens; and have thrown us into prison. Are they now going to get rid of us secretly? No, indeed! Let them come here, themselves and take us out." The lictors reported these words to the praetors, who were frightened when they heard that they were Romans. So they came and conciliated them, and after taking them out of prison, begged them to leave the town. So Paul and Silas came out of the prison, and went to Lydia's house; and after they had seen the brethren and encouraged them, they left Philippi. Now when they had gone through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica. Here there was a Jewish synagogue, and Paul, according to his usual custom, went in to them and, for three Sabbath Days, he reasoned with them out of the Scriptures, explaining and quoting passages to prove that the Messiah had to suffer and to rise again from the dead and that "This Jesus whom I am proclaiming unto you is the Messiah." Some were persuaded and attached themselves to Paul and Silas, including a number of devout Greeks, and a large number of the leading women. But the Jews, moved with jealousy, called to their aid certain ill-favored and idle fellows, formed a mob, and began to set the town in an uproar. Assaulting the house of Jason, they sought to bring them out to the people. And when they had failed to find Paul and Silas, they began to drag Jason and some of the brethren before the politarchs, shouting. "These fellows who have upset the habitable earth are come hither also. "Jason has received them, and they all act contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus." Both the crowd and the politarchs were disturbed when they heard this, but when they had taken security from Jason and the rest, they let them go. Now the brothers sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. When they got there they betook themselves to the Jewish synagogue. The Jews of Berea were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they very readily received the message with all readiness of mind, and day after day searched the Scriptures to see whether these things were so. So many of them became believers, and so did not a few Greeks, women of honorable estate, and men. As soon as the Jews in Thessalonica learned that the word of God was preached by Paul in Berea also, they came there, and stirred up and troubled the crowds. Then the brothers at once sent Paul down to the sea, but Silas and Timothy remained behind. Those who were caring for Paul brought him as far as Athens, and there left him, with instructions to Silas and Timothy to come to him with all speed. While Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred within him, when he noticed that the city was full of idols. He argued in the synagogues with the Jews and the devout proselytes, and also daily in the market-place with those that met him there. A few of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also encountered him again and again. Some were saying, "What has this beggarly fellow to say?" Others said, "He seems to be a setter forth of strange gods," because he preached Jesus and the resurrection. Then they laid hold of him and brought him up to Mars Hill, saying. "May we be told what this new teaching of yours is? "For you are bringing certain strange things to our ears. We want to know, therefore, what these things mean." (Now all the Athenians and the strangers sojourning there spent their time in nothing else, but to tell or to hear some new thing.) So Paul stood up in the center of Mars Hill, and said: "Men of Athens, I perceive that in all respects you are remarkably religious. "For as I was passing along and observing your objects of worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, 'TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.' What you are worshiping in ignorance, this I am proclaiming to you. "The God who made the universe and all things in it, he, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands, "neither is he served by men's hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all life and breath and all things. "He has made of one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed seasons and the bounds of their habitation, "so that they might seek God, if perhaps they might feel after him and find him, though he is not far from every on of us; "for in him we live and move and have our being; as certain even of your own poets have said, "'For we also are his offspring.' "Since then we are God's offspring, we ought not to imagine that the Godhead is like to gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and device of man. "The times of ignorance God overlooked, but he now commands all men that they should all, everywhere, repent; inasmuch as he has fixed a day in which he will judge the world justly, by the Man whom he has ordained, and he has given proof of all this by raising him from the dead." But on hearing of the resurrection of the dead, some began to mock; but others said, "We will hear you again on that subject." So Paul withdrew from them. A few, however, attached themselves to him and believed, among whom was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and some others. After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. Here he found a certain Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife, Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome. Paul came to them, and because he was of the same trade with them, he lodged with them, and worked with them??or by trade they were tentmakers. Every Sabbath he used to preach in the synagogue, and tried to persuade both Jews and Greeks. And when Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was engrossed in his message, earnestly testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah. But as they opposed him and abused him, he shook out his garments in protest, and said: "Your blood be upon your own hands. I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles." So he left the place, and went into the house of a man named Titus Justus, a worshiper of God, whose house adjoined the synagogue. And Crispus, the warden of the synagogue, believed on the Lord, with all his household; and many of the Corinthians from time to time listened, believed, and were baptized. And the Lord said to Paul in a vision, by night. "Have no fear; go on speaking, and do not keep silent; "for I am with you, and no one shall set upon you to injure you; for I have very many people in this city." So he lived there a year and six months and continued to teach them the word of God. But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews with one accord rose against Paul, and brought him before the tribunal. "This fellow," they said, "is persuading men to offer unlawful worship to God." Paul was about to open his mouth, when Gallio said to the Jews. "If it had been some misdemeanor or wicked villainy, it would have been within reason for me to listen to you Jews; but as these are merely questions about words and names and your own law, you yourselves must see to it. I am not willing to be a judge of these matters." And he drove them from the tribunal. Then they all laid hold of Sosthenes, the warden of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the tribunal; but Gallio took no notice. And Paul after remaining in Corinth some time longer, took leave of the brothers, and sailed away to Syria, accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. As Paul was under a vow, he had his head shaved at Cenchrea. When they came to Ephesus he left them there; but he himself entered into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. When they begged him to stay longer, he would not consent, but said, as he took leave of them, "I will return again to you, if God will." Then, setting sail from Ephesus, he landed at Caesarea; he went up to Jerusalem and saluted the church, and came down to Antioch.
Nearness to God » General references to
"so that they might seek God, if perhaps they might feel after him and find him, though he is not far from every on of us;
Verse Concepts
Paul » Debates » Mar's hill
While Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred within him, when he noticed that the city was full of idols. He argued in the synagogues with the Jews and the devout proselytes, and also daily in the market-place with those that met him there. A few of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also encountered him again and again. Some were saying, "What has this beggarly fellow to say?" Others said, "He seems to be a setter forth of strange gods," because he preached Jesus and the resurrection. read more.
Then they laid hold of him and brought him up to Mars Hill, saying. "May we be told what this new teaching of yours is? "For you are bringing certain strange things to our ears. We want to know, therefore, what these things mean." (Now all the Athenians and the strangers sojourning there spent their time in nothing else, but to tell or to hear some new thing.) So Paul stood up in the center of Mars Hill, and said: "Men of Athens, I perceive that in all respects you are remarkably religious. "For as I was passing along and observing your objects of worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, 'TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.' What you are worshiping in ignorance, this I am proclaiming to you. "The God who made the universe and all things in it, he, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands, "neither is he served by men's hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all life and breath and all things. "He has made of one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed seasons and the bounds of their habitation, "so that they might seek God, if perhaps they might feel after him and find him, though he is not far from every on of us; "for in him we live and move and have our being; as certain even of your own poets have said, "'For we also are his offspring.' "Since then we are God's offspring, we ought not to imagine that the Godhead is like to gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and device of man. "The times of ignorance God overlooked, but he now commands all men that they should all, everywhere, repent; inasmuch as he has fixed a day in which he will judge the world justly, by the Man whom he has ordained, and he has given proof of all this by raising him from the dead." But on hearing of the resurrection of the dead, some began to mock; but others said, "We will hear you again on that subject." So Paul withdrew from them. A few, however, attached themselves to him and believed, among whom was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and some others.
Then they laid hold of him and brought him up to Mars Hill, saying. "May we be told what this new teaching of yours is? "For you are bringing certain strange things to our ears. We want to know, therefore, what these things mean." (Now all the Athenians and the strangers sojourning there spent their time in nothing else, but to tell or to hear some new thing.) So Paul stood up in the center of Mars Hill, and said: "Men of Athens, I perceive that in all respects you are remarkably religious. "For as I was passing along and observing your objects of worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, 'TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.' What you are worshiping in ignorance, this I am proclaiming to you. "The God who made the universe and all things in it, he, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands, "neither is he served by men's hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all life and breath and all things. "He has made of one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed seasons and the bounds of their habitation, "so that they might seek God, if perhaps they might feel after him and find him, though he is not far from every on of us; "for in him we live and move and have our being; as certain even of your own poets have said, "'For we also are his offspring.' "Since then we are God's offspring, we ought not to imagine that the Godhead is like to gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and device of man. "The times of ignorance God overlooked, but he now commands all men that they should all, everywhere, repent; inasmuch as he has fixed a day in which he will judge the world justly, by the Man whom he has ordained, and he has given proof of all this by raising him from the dead." But on hearing of the resurrection of the dead, some began to mock; but others said, "We will hear you again on that subject." So Paul withdrew from them. A few, however, attached themselves to him and believed, among whom was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and some others.
Paul's » First - with barnabas and john mark ac 13-14 » Second - with silas
And after some days Paul said to Barnabas, "Let is go back and visit the brothers in every city in which we have proclaimed the word of the Lord. Let us see how they fare." Now Barnabas wanted to take with them John, who was called Mark. But Paul thought it unwise to take with them one who had deserted them to the Pamphylia, and had not gone on with them to the work. read more.
So there arose a sharp irritation, so that they parted company; Barnabas taking Mark with him, sailed away to Cyprus; while Paul chose Silas, and set forth commended by the brothers to the grace of God. He went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches. And he came also to Derbe and Lystra, where there was a certain disciple named Timothy, the son of a believing Jewess, and of a Greek father. He was well spoken of by the brothers in Lystra and Iconiun. Now Paul, wishing that this man should accompany him on his journey, took him and circumcised him because of the local Jews, who all knew that his father was a Greek. And as they went on their way through the cities they handed them the resolutions which the apostles and the elders in Jerusalem had ordained for them to keep. So the churches were strengthened in the faith and continued to increase in number daily. Then they went through Phrygia and Galatia, the Holy Spirit having forbidden them to proclaim the message in Asia. When they got as far as Mysia, they attempted to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not permit it; and so they passed by Mysia and went on down to Troas. Here a vision appeared to Paul in the night. There stood a man of Macedonia, entreating him and saying, "Come over into Macedonia and help us!" So when he had seen the vision, we sought at once to go forth into Macedonia, because we concluded that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. So we set sail from Troas and ran a straight course to Samothrace. The next day we arrived in Neapolis, and thence came to Philippi, a city of Macedonia, the fore most in its district, a Roman colony. There we stayed for some time. On the Sabbath Day we went outside the city gate, to a riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer; and we sat down and talked to the women who had gathered there. Among them was a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, who belonged to the town of Thyatira. She, since she was a worshiper of God, listened to us, and the Lord opened her heart to attend to what Paul said. When she was baptized, and her household, she urged us, saying, "If in your judgment I am a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my house." And she compelled us to come. Now as we were going to the place of prayer, a certain slave girl met us, who had a spirit of divination, and who brought her masters great gain by fortune-telling. She used to follow after Paul and us, crying out again and again, "These men are servants of the most high God, who proclaimed to you the way of salvation." She persisted in this for many days, until Paul, worn out, turned round and said to the spirit, "I charge you, in the name of Jesus Christ, to come out of her." In that very hour it came out of her. But when her owners saw that their hopes of gain were gone, they seized Paul and Silas, and dragged them before the magistrates, into the market-place. Then they brought them before the praetors, saying. "These fellows are Jews, who are making a great disturbance in our city. "They are teaching customs which it is not lawful for us as Romans to adopt or practise." The crowd, too, rose up together against them, and the praetors, after having them stripped, and after ordering them to be flogged, had many lashes inflicted upon them, and put them in prison, with a charge to the jailer to keep them safe. On receiving so strict an order he cast them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks. But at midnight, while Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the very foundations of the prison-house were shaken; and instantly all the doors were opened, and every one's chains fell off. The jailer, roused from sleep, and seeing the doors wide open, drew his sword and was about to kill himself, because he thought that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted loudly to him. "Do yourself no harm; for we are all here!" So he called for lights, and sprang in, and, trembling for fear, fell down before Paul and Silas, and brought them out, saying, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" "Believe on the Lord Jesus," they answered, "and you will be saved, you and all your household." Then they spoke the message of the Lord to him, as well as to all who were in his house. And he took them, the same hour of the night, and washed their wounds, and he was baptized at once, he and all his. And after bringing them up into his house, he set food before them, overjoyed with all his household in having believed in God. But in the morning the praetors sent their lictors with the order, "Let these men go." The jailer reported the words to Paul, saying. "The praetors have sent to release you; so come out, and go in peace." But Paul said: "They have flogged us publicly, uncondemned, men that are Roman citizens; and have thrown us into prison. Are they now going to get rid of us secretly? No, indeed! Let them come here, themselves and take us out." The lictors reported these words to the praetors, who were frightened when they heard that they were Romans. So they came and conciliated them, and after taking them out of prison, begged them to leave the town. So Paul and Silas came out of the prison, and went to Lydia's house; and after they had seen the brethren and encouraged them, they left Philippi. Now when they had gone through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica. Here there was a Jewish synagogue, and Paul, according to his usual custom, went in to them and, for three Sabbath Days, he reasoned with them out of the Scriptures, explaining and quoting passages to prove that the Messiah had to suffer and to rise again from the dead and that "This Jesus whom I am proclaiming unto you is the Messiah." Some were persuaded and attached themselves to Paul and Silas, including a number of devout Greeks, and a large number of the leading women. But the Jews, moved with jealousy, called to their aid certain ill-favored and idle fellows, formed a mob, and began to set the town in an uproar. Assaulting the house of Jason, they sought to bring them out to the people. And when they had failed to find Paul and Silas, they began to drag Jason and some of the brethren before the politarchs, shouting. "These fellows who have upset the habitable earth are come hither also. "Jason has received them, and they all act contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus." Both the crowd and the politarchs were disturbed when they heard this, but when they had taken security from Jason and the rest, they let them go. Now the brothers sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. When they got there they betook themselves to the Jewish synagogue. The Jews of Berea were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they very readily received the message with all readiness of mind, and day after day searched the Scriptures to see whether these things were so. So many of them became believers, and so did not a few Greeks, women of honorable estate, and men. As soon as the Jews in Thessalonica learned that the word of God was preached by Paul in Berea also, they came there, and stirred up and troubled the crowds. Then the brothers at once sent Paul down to the sea, but Silas and Timothy remained behind. Those who were caring for Paul brought him as far as Athens, and there left him, with instructions to Silas and Timothy to come to him with all speed. While Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred within him, when he noticed that the city was full of idols. He argued in the synagogues with the Jews and the devout proselytes, and also daily in the market-place with those that met him there. A few of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also encountered him again and again. Some were saying, "What has this beggarly fellow to say?" Others said, "He seems to be a setter forth of strange gods," because he preached Jesus and the resurrection. Then they laid hold of him and brought him up to Mars Hill, saying. "May we be told what this new teaching of yours is? "For you are bringing certain strange things to our ears. We want to know, therefore, what these things mean." (Now all the Athenians and the strangers sojourning there spent their time in nothing else, but to tell or to hear some new thing.) So Paul stood up in the center of Mars Hill, and said: "Men of Athens, I perceive that in all respects you are remarkably religious. "For as I was passing along and observing your objects of worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, 'TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.' What you are worshiping in ignorance, this I am proclaiming to you. "The God who made the universe and all things in it, he, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands, "neither is he served by men's hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all life and breath and all things. "He has made of one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed seasons and the bounds of their habitation, "so that they might seek God, if perhaps they might feel after him and find him, though he is not far from every on of us; "for in him we live and move and have our being; as certain even of your own poets have said, "'For we also are his offspring.' "Since then we are God's offspring, we ought not to imagine that the Godhead is like to gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and device of man. "The times of ignorance God overlooked, but he now commands all men that they should all, everywhere, repent; inasmuch as he has fixed a day in which he will judge the world justly, by the Man whom he has ordained, and he has given proof of all this by raising him from the dead." But on hearing of the resurrection of the dead, some began to mock; but others said, "We will hear you again on that subject." So Paul withdrew from them. A few, however, attached themselves to him and believed, among whom was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and some others. After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. Here he found a certain Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife, Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome. Paul came to them, and because he was of the same trade with them, he lodged with them, and worked with them??or by trade they were tentmakers. Every Sabbath he used to preach in the synagogue, and tried to persuade both Jews and Greeks. And when Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was engrossed in his message, earnestly testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah. But as they opposed him and abused him, he shook out his garments in protest, and said: "Your blood be upon your own hands. I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles." So he left the place, and went into the house of a man named Titus Justus, a worshiper of God, whose house adjoined the synagogue. And Crispus, the warden of the synagogue, believed on the Lord, with all his household; and many of the Corinthians from time to time listened, believed, and were baptized. And the Lord said to Paul in a vision, by night. "Have no fear; go on speaking, and do not keep silent; "for I am with you, and no one shall set upon you to injure you; for I have very many people in this city." So he lived there a year and six months and continued to teach them the word of God. But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews with one accord rose against Paul, and brought him before the tribunal. "This fellow," they said, "is persuading men to offer unlawful worship to God." Paul was about to open his mouth, when Gallio said to the Jews. "If it had been some misdemeanor or wicked villainy, it would have been within reason for me to listen to you Jews; but as these are merely questions about words and names and your own law, you yourselves must see to it. I am not willing to be a judge of these matters." And he drove them from the tribunal. Then they all laid hold of Sosthenes, the warden of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the tribunal; but Gallio took no notice. And Paul after remaining in Corinth some time longer, took leave of the brothers, and sailed away to Syria, accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. As Paul was under a vow, he had his head shaved at Cenchrea. When they came to Ephesus he left them there; but he himself entered into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. When they begged him to stay longer, he would not consent, but said, as he took leave of them, "I will return again to you, if God will." Then, setting sail from Ephesus, he landed at Caesarea; he went up to Jerusalem and saluted the church, and came down to Antioch.
So there arose a sharp irritation, so that they parted company; Barnabas taking Mark with him, sailed away to Cyprus; while Paul chose Silas, and set forth commended by the brothers to the grace of God. He went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches. And he came also to Derbe and Lystra, where there was a certain disciple named Timothy, the son of a believing Jewess, and of a Greek father. He was well spoken of by the brothers in Lystra and Iconiun. Now Paul, wishing that this man should accompany him on his journey, took him and circumcised him because of the local Jews, who all knew that his father was a Greek. And as they went on their way through the cities they handed them the resolutions which the apostles and the elders in Jerusalem had ordained for them to keep. So the churches were strengthened in the faith and continued to increase in number daily. Then they went through Phrygia and Galatia, the Holy Spirit having forbidden them to proclaim the message in Asia. When they got as far as Mysia, they attempted to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not permit it; and so they passed by Mysia and went on down to Troas. Here a vision appeared to Paul in the night. There stood a man of Macedonia, entreating him and saying, "Come over into Macedonia and help us!" So when he had seen the vision, we sought at once to go forth into Macedonia, because we concluded that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. So we set sail from Troas and ran a straight course to Samothrace. The next day we arrived in Neapolis, and thence came to Philippi, a city of Macedonia, the fore most in its district, a Roman colony. There we stayed for some time. On the Sabbath Day we went outside the city gate, to a riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer; and we sat down and talked to the women who had gathered there. Among them was a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, who belonged to the town of Thyatira. She, since she was a worshiper of God, listened to us, and the Lord opened her heart to attend to what Paul said. When she was baptized, and her household, she urged us, saying, "If in your judgment I am a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my house." And she compelled us to come. Now as we were going to the place of prayer, a certain slave girl met us, who had a spirit of divination, and who brought her masters great gain by fortune-telling. She used to follow after Paul and us, crying out again and again, "These men are servants of the most high God, who proclaimed to you the way of salvation." She persisted in this for many days, until Paul, worn out, turned round and said to the spirit, "I charge you, in the name of Jesus Christ, to come out of her." In that very hour it came out of her. But when her owners saw that their hopes of gain were gone, they seized Paul and Silas, and dragged them before the magistrates, into the market-place. Then they brought them before the praetors, saying. "These fellows are Jews, who are making a great disturbance in our city. "They are teaching customs which it is not lawful for us as Romans to adopt or practise." The crowd, too, rose up together against them, and the praetors, after having them stripped, and after ordering them to be flogged, had many lashes inflicted upon them, and put them in prison, with a charge to the jailer to keep them safe. On receiving so strict an order he cast them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks. But at midnight, while Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the very foundations of the prison-house were shaken; and instantly all the doors were opened, and every one's chains fell off. The jailer, roused from sleep, and seeing the doors wide open, drew his sword and was about to kill himself, because he thought that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted loudly to him. "Do yourself no harm; for we are all here!" So he called for lights, and sprang in, and, trembling for fear, fell down before Paul and Silas, and brought them out, saying, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" "Believe on the Lord Jesus," they answered, "and you will be saved, you and all your household." Then they spoke the message of the Lord to him, as well as to all who were in his house. And he took them, the same hour of the night, and washed their wounds, and he was baptized at once, he and all his. And after bringing them up into his house, he set food before them, overjoyed with all his household in having believed in God. But in the morning the praetors sent their lictors with the order, "Let these men go." The jailer reported the words to Paul, saying. "The praetors have sent to release you; so come out, and go in peace." But Paul said: "They have flogged us publicly, uncondemned, men that are Roman citizens; and have thrown us into prison. Are they now going to get rid of us secretly? No, indeed! Let them come here, themselves and take us out." The lictors reported these words to the praetors, who were frightened when they heard that they were Romans. So they came and conciliated them, and after taking them out of prison, begged them to leave the town. So Paul and Silas came out of the prison, and went to Lydia's house; and after they had seen the brethren and encouraged them, they left Philippi. Now when they had gone through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica. Here there was a Jewish synagogue, and Paul, according to his usual custom, went in to them and, for three Sabbath Days, he reasoned with them out of the Scriptures, explaining and quoting passages to prove that the Messiah had to suffer and to rise again from the dead and that "This Jesus whom I am proclaiming unto you is the Messiah." Some were persuaded and attached themselves to Paul and Silas, including a number of devout Greeks, and a large number of the leading women. But the Jews, moved with jealousy, called to their aid certain ill-favored and idle fellows, formed a mob, and began to set the town in an uproar. Assaulting the house of Jason, they sought to bring them out to the people. And when they had failed to find Paul and Silas, they began to drag Jason and some of the brethren before the politarchs, shouting. "These fellows who have upset the habitable earth are come hither also. "Jason has received them, and they all act contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus." Both the crowd and the politarchs were disturbed when they heard this, but when they had taken security from Jason and the rest, they let them go. Now the brothers sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. When they got there they betook themselves to the Jewish synagogue. The Jews of Berea were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they very readily received the message with all readiness of mind, and day after day searched the Scriptures to see whether these things were so. So many of them became believers, and so did not a few Greeks, women of honorable estate, and men. As soon as the Jews in Thessalonica learned that the word of God was preached by Paul in Berea also, they came there, and stirred up and troubled the crowds. Then the brothers at once sent Paul down to the sea, but Silas and Timothy remained behind. Those who were caring for Paul brought him as far as Athens, and there left him, with instructions to Silas and Timothy to come to him with all speed. While Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred within him, when he noticed that the city was full of idols. He argued in the synagogues with the Jews and the devout proselytes, and also daily in the market-place with those that met him there. A few of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also encountered him again and again. Some were saying, "What has this beggarly fellow to say?" Others said, "He seems to be a setter forth of strange gods," because he preached Jesus and the resurrection. Then they laid hold of him and brought him up to Mars Hill, saying. "May we be told what this new teaching of yours is? "For you are bringing certain strange things to our ears. We want to know, therefore, what these things mean." (Now all the Athenians and the strangers sojourning there spent their time in nothing else, but to tell or to hear some new thing.) So Paul stood up in the center of Mars Hill, and said: "Men of Athens, I perceive that in all respects you are remarkably religious. "For as I was passing along and observing your objects of worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, 'TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.' What you are worshiping in ignorance, this I am proclaiming to you. "The God who made the universe and all things in it, he, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands, "neither is he served by men's hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all life and breath and all things. "He has made of one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed seasons and the bounds of their habitation, "so that they might seek God, if perhaps they might feel after him and find him, though he is not far from every on of us; "for in him we live and move and have our being; as certain even of your own poets have said, "'For we also are his offspring.' "Since then we are God's offspring, we ought not to imagine that the Godhead is like to gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and device of man. "The times of ignorance God overlooked, but he now commands all men that they should all, everywhere, repent; inasmuch as he has fixed a day in which he will judge the world justly, by the Man whom he has ordained, and he has given proof of all this by raising him from the dead." But on hearing of the resurrection of the dead, some began to mock; but others said, "We will hear you again on that subject." So Paul withdrew from them. A few, however, attached themselves to him and believed, among whom was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and some others. After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. Here he found a certain Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife, Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome. Paul came to them, and because he was of the same trade with them, he lodged with them, and worked with them??or by trade they were tentmakers. Every Sabbath he used to preach in the synagogue, and tried to persuade both Jews and Greeks. And when Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was engrossed in his message, earnestly testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah. But as they opposed him and abused him, he shook out his garments in protest, and said: "Your blood be upon your own hands. I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles." So he left the place, and went into the house of a man named Titus Justus, a worshiper of God, whose house adjoined the synagogue. And Crispus, the warden of the synagogue, believed on the Lord, with all his household; and many of the Corinthians from time to time listened, believed, and were baptized. And the Lord said to Paul in a vision, by night. "Have no fear; go on speaking, and do not keep silent; "for I am with you, and no one shall set upon you to injure you; for I have very many people in this city." So he lived there a year and six months and continued to teach them the word of God. But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews with one accord rose against Paul, and brought him before the tribunal. "This fellow," they said, "is persuading men to offer unlawful worship to God." Paul was about to open his mouth, when Gallio said to the Jews. "If it had been some misdemeanor or wicked villainy, it would have been within reason for me to listen to you Jews; but as these are merely questions about words and names and your own law, you yourselves must see to it. I am not willing to be a judge of these matters." And he drove them from the tribunal. Then they all laid hold of Sosthenes, the warden of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the tribunal; but Gallio took no notice. And Paul after remaining in Corinth some time longer, took leave of the brothers, and sailed away to Syria, accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. As Paul was under a vow, he had his head shaved at Cenchrea. When they came to Ephesus he left them there; but he himself entered into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. When they begged him to stay longer, he would not consent, but said, as he took leave of them, "I will return again to you, if God will." Then, setting sail from Ephesus, he landed at Caesarea; he went up to Jerusalem and saluted the church, and came down to Antioch.
Select readings » Paul on mars' hill
So Paul stood up in the center of Mars Hill, and said: "Men of Athens, I perceive that in all respects you are remarkably religious. "For as I was passing along and observing your objects of worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, 'TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.' What you are worshiping in ignorance, this I am proclaiming to you. "The God who made the universe and all things in it, he, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands, read more.
"neither is he served by men's hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all life and breath and all things. "He has made of one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed seasons and the bounds of their habitation, "so that they might seek God, if perhaps they might feel after him and find him, though he is not far from every on of us; "for in him we live and move and have our being; as certain even of your own poets have said, "'For we also are his offspring.' "Since then we are God's offspring, we ought not to imagine that the Godhead is like to gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and device of man. "The times of ignorance God overlooked, but he now commands all men that they should all, everywhere, repent; inasmuch as he has fixed a day in which he will judge the world justly, by the Man whom he has ordained, and he has given proof of all this by raising him from the dead."
"neither is he served by men's hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all life and breath and all things. "He has made of one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed seasons and the bounds of their habitation, "so that they might seek God, if perhaps they might feel after him and find him, though he is not far from every on of us; "for in him we live and move and have our being; as certain even of your own poets have said, "'For we also are his offspring.' "Since then we are God's offspring, we ought not to imagine that the Godhead is like to gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and device of man. "The times of ignorance God overlooked, but he now commands all men that they should all, everywhere, repent; inasmuch as he has fixed a day in which he will judge the world justly, by the Man whom he has ordained, and he has given proof of all this by raising him from the dead."
Religion » Natural
and yet he left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave you rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling your hearts with food and gladness."
Verse Concepts
"For as I was passing along and observing your objects of worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, 'TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.' What you are worshiping in ignorance, this I am proclaiming to you. "The God who made the universe and all things in it, he, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands, "neither is he served by men's hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all life and breath and all things. read more.
"He has made of one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed seasons and the bounds of their habitation, "so that they might seek God, if perhaps they might feel after him and find him, though he is not far from every on of us; "for in him we live and move and have our being; as certain even of your own poets have said, "'For we also are his offspring.'
"He has made of one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed seasons and the bounds of their habitation, "so that they might seek God, if perhaps they might feel after him and find him, though he is not far from every on of us; "for in him we live and move and have our being; as certain even of your own poets have said, "'For we also are his offspring.'
For God's wrath is ever being revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who smother the truth by their unrighteousness. This is so because that which may be known of God is manifest among them; for God has made it manifest to them. For ever since the creation of the world his invisible nature, even his everlasting power and divinity, has been clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made. So they have no excuse.
And yet they did not all hearken to the good news; for Isaiah said, Lord, who hath believed our message? So faith comes from a message heard, and the message comes from the teaching of Christ. But I ask, Did they fail to hear? Yes, truly, Their sound has gone out unto all the earth, And their words unto the ends of the world.