11 Making their way through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. And following his custom, Paul visited them and for three sabbaths lectured to them on the scriptures, demonstrating and proving that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead, and saying, This is the Christ, Jesus, whom I proclaim to you. And some of them believed and attached themselves to Paul and Silas, a great number of Greek believers, and not a few prorni- nent women. But the Jews became jealous, and they enlisted the help of some tough men from the market place rabble and started a riot and threw the city into confusion; and they besieged the house of Jason and demanded that he bring them out before the people. But not finding them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the authorities, shouting: These men who are upsetting the Empire are here now, and Jason has taken them in; and all of them are acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another who is King, Jesus. And they stirred up the mob and the authorities, but after getting bail from Jason and the others they let them go.
The brothers immediately took Paul and Silas to Be- roea by night, and arriving there they went to the synagogue of the Jews. These people were more honorable than the ones in Thessalonica, and they received the word in all eagerness, studying the scriptures day by day to see if this were really so. And many of them believed, and not a few of the prominent Greek women and men. But when the Jews of Thessalonica learned that the word of God had been proclaimed in Beroea by Paul, they went there also, upheaving and disturbing the masses. But then the brothers promptly sent Paul on his way to the sea; and Silas and Timothy stayed there. Then those who had Paul in their charge brought him to Athens and, after receiving his instructions to Silas and Timothy that they should come to him with all speed, they returned.
In Athens, while Paul was awaiting them, his spirit was exasperated within him as he saw that the city was full of idols. And he would have discussions with the Jews and the worshippers in the synagogue and in the market place every day with anyone he happened to meet. And some of the Stoic and Epicurean philosophers encountered him, and some of them said: What might this vagabond be trying to tell us? And others said: He seems to be an announcer of foreign divinities. Because he brought the gospel of Jesus and the resurrection. So they took him in hand and led him up to the Areopagus, saying: Can we discover what is this new teaching of which you are telling us? You are bringing something new to our ears. So we wish to learn what this means. All the Athenians and their visitors from abroad spent their time on nothing except saying or hearing something novel.
Then Paul, standing on the middle of the Areopagus, said: Gentlemen of Athens, I perceive that you are in every way more god-fearing than others; for as I went about and observed your sanctuaries I even found an altar inscribed: To the Unknown God. What you worship, without knowing what it is, this is what I proclaim to you. God, who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in Hand-built temples, nor, as one who needs anything, is he ministered to by human hands, since he himself gave life and breath and everything else to all. And out of one he made every nation of men to live on every face of the earth, decreeing the seasons in their order and the boundaries of their habitations; and he made them search for God, to try to feel their way to him, since indeed he is not far from any one of us. For in him we live and move and are, since, as some of your own poets have said: We are his offspring.
Being then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to believe that divinity is like gold or silver or stone, the carving of art and the thought of man. God, then, overlooking our times of ignorance, now announces to men that all men everywhere must repent; because he has set a day on which he will judge the inhabited world in justice through a man whom he has appointed to do this, after giving sure proof to all by resurrecting him from the dead.
When they heard about the resurrection from the dead, some scoffed but some said: We will listen to you again concerning this matter.
So Paul went from their midst; but some men attached themselves to him and believed, among them Dionysius the Areopagite and his wife, who was n^ed Damaris, and some others with them.
1 After that he left Athens and went to Corinth. There he found a Jew named Aquila, from Pontus by origin, who had recently come from Italy with his wife, Pris- cilla, because Claudius had decreed that all Jews must leave Rome. He went to them and, because they shared the same craft, he stayed with them and they all worked together. Their craft was tent-making. And every sabbath he would speak in the synagogue, and he converted both Jews and Greeks.
But when Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul gave himself over to preaching the word, testifying to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus. And when they opposed him and abused him, he shook out his clothing and said: Your blood be upon your own heads. My hands are clean. From now on I shall go to the Gentiles. And leaving the place, he went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, who worshipped God, and whose house was next to the synagogue. And Crispus, the head of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, together with all his household; and many Corinthians when they heard him believed and were baptized. And in a vision by night the
Lord said to Pauclass="underline" Do not fear, but speak on and do not be silent; because I am with you, and no one will attack you to do you harm; because I have many people in this city.
And he stayed for a year and six months teaching them the word of God. But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaea, the Jews made a concerted attack on Paul and brought him to the tribunal, saying: This man persuades people to worship God contrary to the law. But as Paul was about to open his mouth to speak, Gallio said to the Jews: If there were some crime or flagrant villainy, you Jews, I would reasonably have put up with you; but if your complaints concern a word or names or the law that you have, you must see to it yourselves. I do not wish to be judge of these matters. And he drove them from the tribunal. Then they all seized on Sosthenes, the head of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the tribunal; but none of all this was of any concern to Gallio.
Paul stayed on for a number of days and then, after saying farewell to the brothers, sailed for Syria, and Pris- cilla and Aquila went with him, and he cut his hair short in Cenchreae, for he had taken a vow. They put in at Ephesus, and he left the others there and went himself into the synagogue and talked with the Jews. And when they asked him to stay for a longer time, he refused, but after saying farewell and telling them: I will return to you again, God willing, he sailed from Ephesus; and went ashore at Caesarea and went up and greeted the church, and went down to Antioch, and after spending some time there left; and passed from place to place through the territory of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening the disciples.
There was a certain Jew, Apollos by name, an Alexandrian by origin, who came to Ephesus: an eloquent man, strong in the scriptures. This man was a student in the way of the Lord and, seething with enthusiasm, he spoke and taught accurately the facts about Jesus, but he knew only the baptism of John. And he began to speak freely in the synagogue; but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him more exactly about the Way of God. When he wished to go to Achaea, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples that they should accept him. And when he arrived, he was very helpful to those who, through grace, had become believers; for he strenuously confuted the Jews, proving in public, through the scriptures, that the Christ was Jesus.