15. After Paul’s escorts had taken him to Athens, they came away with instructions for Silas and Timothy to join him as soon as possible.
16. While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he grew exasperated at the sight of the city full of idols.
17. So he debated in the synagogue with the Jews and with the worshipers, and daily in the public square with whoever happened to be there.
18. Even some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers engaged him in discussion. Some asked, “What is this scavenger trying to say?” Others said, “He sounds like a promoter of foreign deities,” because he was preaching about ‘Jesus’ and ‘Resurrection.’
19. They took him and led him to the Areopagus and said, “May we learn what this new teaching is that you speak of?
20. For you bring some strange notions to our ears; we should like to know what these things mean.”
21. Now all the Athenians as well as the foreigners residing there used their time for nothing else but telling or hearing something new.
22. Then Paul stood up at the Areopagus and said:“You Athenians, I see that in every respect you are very religious.
23. For as I walked around looking carefully at your shrines, I even discovered an altar inscribed, ‘To an Unknown God.’ What therefore you unknowingly worship, I proclaim to you.
24. The God who made the world and all that is in it, the Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in sanctuaries made by human hands,
25. nor is he served by human hands because he needs anything. Rather it is he who gives to everyone life and breath and everything.