World English Bible · Under Rome
Acts 17
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Now when they had passed through and , they came to , where there was a . , as was his custom, went in to them; and for three days reasoned with them from , explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and from , and saying, "This , whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ." Some of them were persuaded and joined and : of the devout a great multitude, and not of the chief women. But the unpersuaded took along some men from the marketplace and gathering a , set the city in an uproar. Assaulting the house of , they sought to bring them out to the people. When they didn't find them, they dragged and certain brothers before the of the city, crying, "These who have turned the world upside down have come here also, whom has received. These all act contrary to the decrees of , saying that there is another king, !" and the of the city were troubled when they heard these things. When they had taken security from and the rest, they let them go. The brothers immediately sent and away by night to . When they arrived, they went into the . Now these were more noble than those in , in that they received the word with all readiness of , examining daily to see whether these things were so. Many of them therefore ; also of the prominent women, and not men. But when the of had knowledge that the word of was proclaimed by at also, they came there likewise, agitating the . Then the brothers immediately sent out to go as far as to the sea, and and still stayed there. But those who escorted brought him as far as . Receiving a to and that they should come to him very quickly, they departed. Now while waited for them at , his was provoked within him as he saw the city full of idols. So he reasoned in the with the and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who met him. Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also were conversing with him. Some said, "What does this babbler want to say?" Others said, "He seems to be advocating foreign deities," because he preached and the . They took hold of him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, "May we know what this new teaching is, which you are speaking about? For you bring certain strange things to our ears. We want to know therefore what these things mean." Now all the Athenians and the strangers living there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell or to hear some new thing. stood in the middle of the Areopagus and said, "You men of , I perceive that you are very religious in all things. For as I passed along and observed the objects of your , I also found an with this inscription: 'TO .' What therefore you in ignorance, I announce to you. The who made the world and all things in it, he, being of and earth, doesn't in temples made with hands. He isn't by men's hands, as though he needed anything, seeing he himself gives to all life and breath and all things. He made from one every nation of men to on all the surface of the earth, having determined appointed seasons and the boundaries of their dwellings, that they should seek , if perhaps they might reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 'For in him we live, move, and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'For we are also his .' Being then the of , we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold, or silver, or stone, engraved by art and design of man. The times of ignorance therefore overlooked. But now he commands that all people everywhere should , because he has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in by the man whom he has ordained; of which he has given assurance to all men, in that he has him from ." Now when they heard of the of , some mocked; but others said, "We want to hear you again concerning this." 33Thus went out from among them. But certain men joined with him and , including Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.
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The world at this moment · Under Rome, 63 BC to AD 100 ›
Judea as a client kingdom and then a province. Roads, garrisons, taxes, crucifixion, and a common Greek language that let a message travel the empire faster than any before it.
- Rome
- The republic tears itself apart in civil war and comes out as an empire under Augustus. What follows is two centuries of relative peace across the whole Mediterranean, enforced by legions and paid for by taxes, with safe roads and safe sea lanes. Every one of Paul's journeys depends on that.
- Judea
- Governed first through Herod the Great, a client king of enormous ability and enormous brutality who rebuilds the temple into one of the wonders of the ancient world, then directly by Roman prefects. Crucifixion is the standard penalty for sedition and is used often and publicly.
- The wider world
- Greek is spoken from Spain to Syria, which means a letter written in Corinth can be read in Rome without translation. Jewish communities already exist in most major cities, which is where the first Christian preaching lands. Mystery religions, imperial cult, and philosophy all compete in the same marketplace.
- Further afield
- The Han dynasty rules China and trades silk westward along routes that touch the Roman world at second hand. In Britain the Roman conquest begins within a decade of the crucifixion.