Acts 17

Paul and his companions traveled through the towns of Amphipolis and Apollonia, and came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue.

1Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews:

NoteAmphipolis and Apollonia were stops on the Via Egnatia, the Roman highway running across Macedonia; Thessalonica was the capital of the province and a busy port. A synagogue was the local Jewish assembly and its meeting house, where the Scriptures were read and discussed each Sabbath and where visiting teachers were often invited to speak.

2As he usually did, Paul went in to meet with them. On three Sabbath days he reasoned with them, using the Scriptures.

2And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures,

Note"as his manner was" means as he regularly did. The Scriptures he argued from were the Hebrew Scriptures, what Christians later called the Old Testament; no Christian writings existed yet.

3He explained the Scriptures and gave proof that the Christ had to suffer and then rise from the dead. He said, "This Jesus, whom I am telling you about, is the Christ."

3Opening and alleging, that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ.

Note"Opening and alleging" uses two words that have shifted: in 1611 "opening" meant unfolding the sense of a text, and "alleging" meant laying out evidence for a claim, not making an unproven accusation as it does now. "Christ" is a title rather than a name; it translates the Hebrew "Messiah," meaning the anointed one.

4Some of them were convinced and joined Paul and Silas. So did a large number of Greeks who worshiped God, and quite a few of the leading women.

4And some of them believed, and consorted with Paul and Silas; and of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few.

Note"consorted with" meant simply joined or associated with. The "devout Greeks" were non-Jews who attended the synagogue and worshiped the God of Israel without becoming full converts; they are often called God-fearers. "the chief women" means women of rank and wealth, who in Macedonian cities held unusual public standing.

5But the Jews who did not believe were jealous. They rounded up some worthless troublemakers from the marketplace, formed a mob, and set the whole city in an uproar. They attacked Jason's house, trying to bring Paul and Silas out to the crowd.

5But the Jews which believed not, moved with envy, took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a company, and set all the city on an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people.

Note"lewd fellows of the baser sort" carried no sexual sense in 1611: "lewd" meant common or worthless and "the baser sort" meant men of low social standing. The marketplace was where idle men loitered and could be hired cheaply to start a riot.

6When they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some other believers to the city officials. They shouted, "These men who have turned the world upside down have come here too,

6And when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also;

Note"the rulers of the city" translates politarchs, the actual title Thessalonica used for its magistrates; inscriptions from the city confirm the term. "turned the world upside down" renders a phrase about stirring up unrest, and "the world" here means the inhabited world, in practice the Roman empire.

7and Jason has taken them into his house. They all act against the orders of Caesar, saying there is another king, one named Jesus."

7Whom Jason hath received: and these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus.

NoteSaying there is another king was a charge of treason, not a religious complaint. Roman law treated predicting or promoting a change of ruler as a crime, so the accusation was framed in terms the officials were obliged to act on.

8When the crowd and the city officials heard this, they were very upset.

8And they troubled the people and the rulers of the city, when they heard these things.

9The officials made Jason and the others put up money as a guarantee, and then let them go.

9And when they had taken security of Jason, and of the other, they let them go.

Note"taken security" means they required a sum of money as a bond, much like bail, which would be forfeited if the trouble started again. That gave Jason a strong reason to keep Paul from coming back.

10That same night the believers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. When they arrived, they went into the Jewish synagogue.

10And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews.

NoteBerea lay roughly fifty miles southwest of Thessalonica, off the main highway and out of the way, which made it a sensible place to send men who were being hunted.

11These people were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica. They welcomed the message eagerly and studied the Scriptures every day to see whether what they were told was true.

11These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.

Note"more noble" translates a word meaning well-born, used here of character rather than family: they were fair-minded, and willing to check the claims against the texts themselves instead of taking or rejecting them on the speaker's word.

12So many of them believed, including quite a few respected Greek women, and not a few men.

12Therefore many of them believed; also of honourable women which were Greeks, and of men, not a few.

13But when the Jews in Thessalonica found out that Paul was preaching God's word in Berea too, they went there as well and stirred up trouble among the crowds.

13But when the Jews of Thessalonica had knowledge that the word of God was preached of Paul at Berea, they came thither also, and stirred up the people.

Note"preached of Paul" means preached by Paul; "of" regularly meant "by" in 1611 English.

14So the believers immediately sent Paul off toward the coast, while Silas and Timothy stayed behind in Berea.

14And then immediately the brethren sent away Paul to go as it were to the sea: but Silas and Timotheus abode there still.

Note"as it were to the sea" is deliberately vague in the Greek and has been read two ways: either the believers took Paul in the direction of the coast, or they made it look as though he were heading for the coast in order to throw off pursuers.

15The men who escorted Paul brought him as far as Athens. Then they went back, carrying his instructions for Silas and Timothy to come to him as quickly as possible.

15And they that conducted Paul brought him unto Athens: and receiving a commandment unto Silas and Timotheus for to come to him with all speed, they departed.

Note"receiving a commandment" means carrying instructions back, not a military order.

16While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was deeply troubled to see that the city was full of idols.

16Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry.

NoteThe idols were the statues of gods that stood throughout Athens in temples, streets and public squares. Ancient writers remark on how densely the city was packed with them.

17So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with the non-Jews who worshiped God. He also reasoned every day in the marketplace with whoever happened to be there.

17Therefore disputed he in the synagogue with the Jews, and with the devout persons, and in the market daily with them that met with him.

Note"disputed" meant discussed or debated, not quarreled. The "market" is the agora, the open public square at the civic center of Athens and the normal place for public argument and teaching.

18Some philosophers who followed Epicurus and some who were Stoics argued with him. Some asked, "What is this babbler trying to say?" Others said, "He seems to be promoting foreign gods." They said this because he was preaching about Jesus and the resurrection.

18Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans, and of the Stoicks, encountered him. And some said, What will this babbler say? other some, He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods: because he preached unto them Jesus, and the resurrection.

NoteEpicureans held that the gods exist but take no interest in human affairs, and that death is simply the end of a person. Stoics held that a divine reason runs through all things and that living well means living in accord with it. "Babbler" renders a slang word meaning seed-picker, used of a bird pecking up scraps and so of a person who collects stray bits of other people's ideas and repeats them. Some hearers may have taken "Jesus and the resurrection" for a pair of new deities, since the Greek word for resurrection, anastasis, could be heard as a goddess's name.

19So they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, and asked, "May we know what this new teaching of yours is?

19And they took him, and brought him unto Areopagus, saying, May we know what this new doctrine, whereof thou speakest, is?

NoteAreopagus means the hill of Ares, the Greek god of war, which Latin speakers called Mars' hill, the name the King James uses in verse 22. The word named both the hill and the ancient council that met there, a body that by this period supervised religion, public morals and education in the city. The text leaves it open whether Paul was taken up the hill or brought before the council.

20You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we want to know what they mean."

20For thou bringest certain strange things to our ears: we would know therefore what these things mean.

21(All the Athenians and the foreigners living there spent their time doing nothing but telling or listening to the latest ideas.)

21(For all the Athenians and strangers which were there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell, or to hear some new thing.)

NoteBy this date Athens had long lost political power but remained the intellectual capital of the Greek world. The jab about chasing the latest thing was a stock complaint about Athenians, made by Greek and Roman writers as well.

22So Paul stood up in the middle of the Areopagus and said, "Men of Athens, I can see that in every way you are very religious.

22Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars’ hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious.

Note"too superstitious" is harsher in modern English than the Greek. The word sits between "religious" and "superstitious" and could be heard either as a compliment or as a criticism; opening an address with a remark about the audience's piety was conventional.

23As I walked around and looked at the things you worship, I even found an altar with these words carved on it: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. So the one you worship without knowing him is the one I am telling you about.

23For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.

Note"your devotions" means the objects you worship, not your prayers. Altars dedicated to unnamed or unknown gods are attested in the ancient world; they were a way of covering the risk of offending a deity whose name the worshiper did not know. "Ignorantly" here means without knowing who it is, not stupidly.

24The God who made the world and everything in it is Lord of heaven and earth. He does not live in temples built by human hands.

24God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;

Note"temples made with hands" was a standing Jewish expression for shrines and images built by people. In Athens the phrase pointed straight at the city's most admired buildings, visible from where Paul was standing.

25He is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. He himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.

25Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;

NoteGreek and Roman worship consisted largely of feeding and tending the gods: animal sacrifices, offerings of food and drink, and the washing, clothing and care of their statues. The claim that God needs nothing from human hands cut against that whole practice.

26From one man he made all the nations of people, to live all over the face of the earth. He decided the times set for them and the borders of the lands where they live.

26And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;

Note"of one blood" follows manuscripts that include the word "blood"; others read simply "from one," meaning one man or one ancestor. Either way, the statement ran against a proud Athenian claim that their people had sprung from the soil of Attica itself and were not descended from incomers like everyone else.

27He did this so they would look for God, and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.

27That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:

Note"if haply they might feel after him" pictures groping in the dark, the way someone gropes along a wall for a door. "Haply" means perhaps.

28For in him we live and move and exist. As some of your own poets have said, 'We are also his children.'

28For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.

NoteBoth quotations come from Greek poetry rather than the Hebrew Scriptures. The first line is usually traced to Epimenides of Crete; the second, "we are also his offspring," comes from the Phaenomena of Aratus, a poet from Paul's own region of Cilicia, where the line refers to Zeus.

29So since we are God's children, we should not think that God is like gold or silver or stone, an image shaped by human skill and imagination.

29Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device.

Note"the Godhead" means the divine nature, deity itself, and is not the name of a person. "Graven by art and man's device" means carved by human skill and human imagination.

30In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to turn from their sins.

30And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:

Note"winked at" meant in 1611 to deliberately shut the eyes to something, that is to overlook or pass over it. It did not carry today's sense of a knowing nudge of approval. "Repent" translates a word meaning to change one's mind and turn around.

31This is because he has set a day when he will judge the world fairly, through a man he has chosen. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising that man from the dead."

31Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.

Note"hath given assurance" uses "assurance" in its older legal sense of furnishing proof or a guarantee, not a feeling of confidence. "Judge the world in righteousness" means judge it justly.

32When they heard about a resurrection of the dead, some of them laughed at him. But others said, "We want to hear you speak about this again."

32And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked: and others said, We will hear thee again of this matter.

NoteGreek thought commonly treated the survival of the soul as desirable and the body as something to be shed at death. A claim that a dead body had been raised therefore struck many hearers not as startling good news but as absurd.

33So Paul left them.

33So Paul departed from among them.

34But some men joined him and believed. Among them were Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus council, a woman named Damaris, and others with them.

34Howbeit certain men clave unto him, and believed: among the which was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.

Note"Areopagite" means a member of the Areopagus council, a position of real social standing. Naming Dionysius and Damaris suggests both were known to the book's first readers, and a woman named on her own in such a setting is unusual enough to be worth noticing.