Acts 17
17
In Thessalonica
1Paul and Silas travelled on through Amphipolis and Apollonia and came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue. 2According to his usual habit Paul went to the synagogue. There during three Sabbaths he held discussions with the people, quoting 3and explaining the Scriptures and proving from them that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from death. “This Jesus whom I announce to you,” Paul said, “is the Messiah.” 4Some of them were convinced and joined Paul and Silas; so did many of the leading women and a large group of Greeks who worshipped God.
5But some Jews were jealous and gathered worthless loafers from the streets and formed a mob. They set the whole city in an uproar and attacked the home of a man called Jason, in an attempt to find Paul and Silas and bring them out to the people. 6But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some other believers before the city authorities and shouted, “These men have caused trouble everywhere! Now they have come to our city, 7and Jason has kept them in his house. They are all breaking the laws of the Emperor, saying that there is another king, whose name is Jesus.” 8With these words they threw the crowd and the city authorities into an uproar. 9The authorities made Jason and the others pay the required amount of money to be released, and then let them go.
In Berea
10As soon as night came, the believers sent Paul and Silas to Berea. When they arrived, they went to the synagogue. 11The people there were more open-minded than the people in Thessalonica. They listened to the message with great eagerness, and every day they studied the Scriptures to see if what Paul said was really true. 12Many of them believed; and many Greek women of high social standing and many Greek men also believed. 13But when the Jews in Thessalonica heard that Paul had preached the word of God in Berea also, they came there and started exciting and stirring up the mob. 14At once the believers sent Paul away to the coast; but both Silas and Timothy stayed in Berea. 15The men who were taking Paul went with him as far as Athens and then returned to Berea with instructions from Paul that Silas and Timothy should join him as soon as possible.
In Athens
16While Paul was waiting in Athens for Silas and Timothy, he was greatly upset when he noticed how full of idols the city was. 17So he held discussions in the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentiles who worshipped God, and also in the public square every day with the people who happened to pass by. 18Certain Epicurean and Stoic teachers also debated with him. Some of them asked, “What is this ignorant show-off trying to say?”
Others answered, “He seems to be talking about foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching about Jesus and the resurrection.#17.18 Jesus and the resurrection: In Greek, the feminine noun “resurrection” could be understood to be the name of a goddess. 19So they took Paul, brought him before the city council, the Areopagus, and said, “We would like to know what this new teaching is that you are talking about. 20Some of the things we hear you say sound strange to us, and we would like to know what they mean.” 21(For all the citizens of Athens and the foreigners who lived there liked to spend all their time telling and hearing the latest new thing.)
22Paul stood up in front of the city council and said, “I see that in every way you Athenians are very religious. 23For as I walked through your city and looked at the places where you worship, I found an altar on which is written, ‘To an Unknown God’. That which you worship, then, even though you do not know it, is what I now proclaim to you. 24#1 Kgs 8.27; Is 42.5; Acts 7.48God, who made the world and everything in it, is Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples made by human hands. 25Nor does he need anything that we can supply by working for him, since it is he himself who gives life and breath and everything else to everyone. 26From one human being he created all races on earth and made them live throughout the whole earth. He himself fixed beforehand the exact times and the limits of the places where they would live. 27He did this so that they would look for him, and perhaps find him as they felt about for him. Yet God is actually not far from any one of us; 28as someone has said,
‘In him we live and move and exist.’
It is as some of your poets have said,
‘We too are his children.’
29Since we are God's children, we should not suppose that his nature is anything like an image of gold or silver or stone, shaped by human art and skill. 30God has overlooked the times when people did not know him, but now he commands all of them everywhere to turn away from their evil ways. 31For he has fixed a day in which he will judge the whole world with justice by means of a man he has chosen. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising that man from death!”
32When they heard Paul speak about a raising from death, some of them made fun of him, but others said, “We want to hear you speak about this again.” 33And so Paul left the meeting. 34Some men joined him and believed, among whom was Dionysius, a member of the council; there was also a woman named Damaris, and some other people.
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Acts 17: GNBUK
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Good News Bible. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.
Gevurot Meyruach Hakodesh 17
17
1Now having passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonika, where there was a shul.
2And as he did bekvius (regularly), Rav Sha'ul joined their minyan, and on shloshah Shabbatot, he gave them drashot from the Kitvei HaKodesh,
3Making a Messianic midrash (homiletical interpretation of the Scriptures) and giving the pshat (rationale) for the yissurim of Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach, that it was necessary for him to suffer and to stand up alive from the Mesim, saying, This one is the Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach, this Yehoshua whom I am proclaiming to you.
4And some of them were persuaded and were being mishtatef (join, become involved) in a chavurah with Rav Sha'ul and Sila, as did a large number of yirei Elohim (Yevanim) and not a few of the chashuve nashim.
5And the Yehudim without emunah, being filled with kinah, and having rounded up from the people of the market the gornisht and the no-goodniks, and having formed a mob, were throwing the city into an uproar. And the crowd was seeking to bring out Moshiachʼs Shlichim and throw them to the mob, so they attacked the bais of Jason.
6But not having found the Moshiachʼs Shlichim, they were dragging Jason and some other Achim b'Moshiach to the city manhigim, shouting, These, who have been turning the Olam Hazeh upside down, have come here also!
7And Jason is the one who has received them into his bais! And all these ones are acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is a king other than Caesar, this Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach Yehoshua!
8And they stirred up the mob and also the city manhigim who heard them saying these things.
9And having taken the bond money from Jason and the rest, they released them.
10And, immediately during the lailah, the Achim b'Moshiach sent both Rav Sha'ul and Sila to Berea. When Moshiachʼs Shlichim arrived, they joined the minyan in the shul.
11But these Bereans were more noble-minded than the Thessalonians. The Berean Yehudim received the dvar Hashem with all readiness, yom yom (daily) making a chazora (review) and examining and horiva over (analyzing) the Kitvei HaKodesh, to see if these things might be so.#17:11 Dt 29:29
12Therefore, many of them became Messianic Jews, and also of the chashuve Yevanim, not a few nashim and anashim came to emunah.
13But when the Yehudim without emunah from Thessalonika realized that also in Berea the dvar Hashem was being proclaimed by Rav Sha'ul, they came also to Berea, agitating and stirring up mobs.
14And immediately, then, the Achim b'Moshiach sent away Rav Sha'ul to go as far as to the sea, but both Sila and Timotiyos remained in Berea.
15Now the ones escorting Rav Sha'ul brought him as far as Athens, and after receiving instructions to have Sila and Timotiyos come to Rav Sha'ul in Athens as quickly as possible, the ones escorting him departed.
16And awaiting them in Athens, the ruach of Rav Sha'ul was being distressed within him as he observed the city being full of elilim.
17Therefore, Rav Sha'ul was dialoguing and arguing in the shul with the Yehudim and with the yirei Elohim and also in the marketplace yom yom#17:17 street preaching to the ones who happened to be there.
18Also some of the Apikoros (Epicurean) and Stoic philosophers started conversing with Rav Sha'ul, and some were saying, What might this babbler wish to say? And others said, He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign deities. They said this because of what Rav Sha'ul was proclaiming: Yehoshua and the Techiyas HaMesim.
19And having taken hold of Rav Sha'ul, they brought him to the Areopagus, saying, Are we able to have da'as of what this new teaching is, which is being spoken by you?
20For some surprising things you bring to our hearing. Therefore, we desire to have da'as of what these things mean.
21Now all the Athenians and the visiting foreigners and tourists in Athens used to spend time doing nothing but shmoozing about the latest novelty in the news.
22And Rav Sha'ul, taking his stand in the middle of the Areopagus, said, Anashim, Athenians, with respect to everything how very religious indeed I observe you to be.
23For passing through and looking carefully at your objects of worship, I found also an altar on which had been inscribed “To the unknown g-d.” Therefore, what you worship without da'as, this I proclaim to you.
24 Hashem, the One having made HaOlam and all the things in it, this One being Adon HaShomayim vaHaAretz, does not dwell in temples made by human hands.#17:24 Isa 42:5; Dt 10:14; Isa 66:1; 1Kgs 8:27
25Nor is Hashem served by human hands, as if Hashem were in need of something, since He gives to all Chayyim and breath and everything.#17:25 Ps 50:10-12; Isa 42:5
26And Hashem made from one ancestor every nation of anashim dwelling pnei kol haAretz. And Hashem has set the zmanim and the fixed boundaries of their habitations,#17:26 Dt 32:8; Job 12:23
27So that they would seek Hashem, if efsher (perhaps) they might grope for Him and might find Him, though Hashem is not far from each one of us.#17:27 Dt 4:7; Isa 55:6; Jer 23:23,24
28For “we live in Him and in Him we move and have our being,” as also some of your poets have said, “For we are all His offspring.”#17:28 Dt 30:20; Job 12:10; Dan 5:23; Epimenides; Aratus
29Therefore, being offspring of Hashem, we ought not to think that Hashemʼs essence is like gold or silver or stone, a tzelem (image) made by the skill and thought of Bnei Adam.#17:29 Isa 40:18-20
30While Hashem has disregarded and let pass the Am HaAretz times of ignorance, now, however, Hashem proclaims to kol bnei Adam everywhere, Make teshuva,
31Because he set a day in which he is about to bring MISHPAT#17:31 Ps 9:8 on the Olam Hazeh in tzedek#17:31 Dan 9:24 by an ISH#17:31 Zech 6:12 whom he appointed, having furnished proof to all by having made him to stand up alive again from the Mesim.#17:31 Ps 9:8; 96:13; 98:9; Isa 53:11 MEGILLOT YAM HAMELACH (DEAD SEA SCROLLS)
32And when they heard of the Techiyas HaMesim, some were mocking Rav Sha'ul. But others said, We will hear you again about this.
33Thus did Rav Sha'ul go out from the midst of them.
34And some anashim became mishtatef in the chavurah of Rav Sha'ul, in that they had emunah, among whom were both Dionysius, a member of the Athenian Council of the Areopagus, and an isha by name Damaris, and others with them.
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