Paul Addresses the Areopagus

²² So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. ²³ For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ^(A)‘To the unknown god.’ ^(B)What therefore you worship ^(C)as unknown, this I proclaim to you.

¹⁸ Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him. And some said, ^(A)“What does this babbler wish to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities”—because ^(B)he was preaching ^(C)Jesus and the resurrection. ¹⁹ And they took him and brought him to ^(D)the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this ^(E)new teaching is that you are presenting? ²⁰ For you bring some ^(F)strange things to our ears. We wish to know therefore what these things mean.” ²¹ Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new.

Paul Addresses the Areopagus

²² So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. ²³ For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ^(G)‘To the unknown god.’ ^(H)What therefore you worship ^(I)as unknown, this I proclaim to you. ^24 (J)The God who made the world and everything in it, being ^(K)Lord of heaven and earth, ^(L)does not live in temples made by man,^{[a] 25} nor is he served by human hands, ^(M)as though he needed anything, since he himself ^(N)gives to all mankind ^(O)life and breath and everything. ²⁶ And ^(P)he made from one man every nation of mankind to live ^(Q)on all the face of the earth, ^(R)having determined allotted periods and ^(S)the boundaries of their dwelling place, ^27 (T)that they should seek God, ^(U)and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. ^(V)Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, ²⁸ for

as even some of ^(X)your own poets have said,

^29 (Y)Being then God's offspring, ^(Z)we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. ^30 (AA)The times of ignorance ^(AB)God overlooked, but ^(AC)now he ^(AD)commands all people everywhere to repent, ³¹ because he has fixed ^(AE)a day on which ^(AF)he will judge the world ^(AG)in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and ^(AH)of this he has given assurance to all ^(AI)by raising him from the dead.”

³² Now when they heard of ^(AJ)the resurrection of the dead, ^(AK)some mocked. But others said, ^(AL)“We will hear you again about this.” ³³ So Paul went out from their midst. ³⁴ But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius ^(AM)the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.