19. They took him to a meeting of the Areopagus. There they said to him, "What is this new teaching you're giving us?
20. You have some strange ideas. We've never heard them before. We want to know what they mean."
21. All the people of Athens spent their time talking about and listening to the latest ideas. People from other lands who lived there did the same.
22. Then Paul stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus. He said, "Men of Athens! I see that you are very religious in every way.
23. As I walked around, I looked carefully at the things you worship. I even found an altar with ~to an unknown god= written on it. Now I am going to tell you about this 'unknown god' that you worship.
24. "He is the God who made the world. He also made everything in it. He is the Lord of heaven and earth. He doesn't live in temples built by hands.
25. He is not served by human hands. He doesn't need anything. He himself gives life and breath to all people. He also gives them everything else they have.
26. From one man he made all the people of the world. Now they live all over the earth. He decided exactly when they should live. And he decided exactly where they should live.
27. God did this so that people would seek him. Then perhaps they would reach out for him and find him. They would find him even though he is not far from any of us.
28. 'In him we live and move and exist.' As some of your own poets have also said, 'We are his children.'