Study Desk

Now while Paul was waiting for them in ^(C1)Athens, his spirit was being provoked within him as he observed that the city was full of idols.

(Now all the Athenians and the strangers ^(C1)visiting there used to spend their time in nothing other than telling or hearing something new.)

So Paul stood in the midst of the ^(F1)Areopagus and said, "Men of ^(C1)Athens, I see that you are very ^(C2)religious in all respects.

"For while I was passing through and examining the ^(C1)objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription, 'TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.' Therefore, what ^(C2)you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you.

"^(C1)The God who made the world and everything that is in it, since He is ^(C2)Lord of heaven and earth, does not ^(C3)dwell in temples made by hands;

nor is He served by human hands, ^(C1)as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things;

and ^(C1)He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having ^(C2)determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation,

that they would seek God, if perhaps they might feel around for Him and find Him, ^(C1)though He is not far from each one of us;

for ^(C1)in Him we live and move and ^(F1)exist, as even some of your own poets have said, 'For we also are His descendants.'

"Therefore, since we are the descendants of God, we ^(C1)ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by human skill and thought.

"So having ^(C1)overlooked ^(C2)the times of ignorance, God is ^(C3)now proclaiming to mankind that all people everywhere are to repent,

because He has set ^(C1)a day on which ^(C2)He will judge ^(F1)(C3)the world in righteousness ^(F2)through a Man whom He has ^(C4)appointed, having furnished proof to all people ^(F3)by ^(C5)raising Him from the dead."