King James Version · Under Rome
Acts 17
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Now when they had passed through and , they came to , where was a of the : And , as his manner was, went in unto them, and three days reasoned with them out of , Opening and alleging, that Christ must needs have suffered, and again from ; and that this , whom I preach unto you, is Christ. And some of them , and consorted with and ; and of the devout a great multitude, and of the chief women not . But the which not, moved with envy, took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a company, and set all the city on an uproar, and assaulted the house of , and sought to bring them out to the people. And when they found them not, they drew and certain brethren unto the of the city, crying, These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also; Whom hath received: and these all do contrary to the decrees of Cesar, saying that there is another king, one . And they troubled the people and the of the city, when they heard these things. And when they had taken security of , and of the other, they let them go. And the brethren immediately sent away and by night unto : who coming thither went into the of the . These were more noble than those in , in that they received the word with all readiness of , and searched daily, whether those things were so. Therefore many of them ; also of honourable women which were , and of men, not . But when the of had knowledge that the word of was preached of at , they came thither also, and stirred up the people. And then immediately the brethren sent away to go as it were to the sea: but and abode there still. And they that conducted brought him unto : and receiving a unto and for to come to him with all speed, they departed. Now while waited for them at , his was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry. Therefore disputed he in the with the , and with the devout persons, and in the market daily with them that met with him. Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans, and of the Stoicks, encountered him. And some said, What will this babbler say? other some, He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods: because he preached unto them , and the . And they took him, and brought him unto Areopagus, saying, May we know what this new doctrine, whereof thou speakest, is? For thou bringest certain strange things to our ears: we would know therefore what these things mean. (For all the Athenians and strangers which were there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell, or to hear some new thing.) Then stood in the midst of Mars’ hill, and said, Ye men of , I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an with this inscription, TO THE . Whom therefore ye ignorantly , him declare I unto you. that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is of and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; Neither is with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; And hath made of one all nations of men for to on all the of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; That they should seek , if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his . Forasmuch then as we are the of , we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device. And the times of this ignorance winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to : Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath him from . And when they heard of the of , some mocked: and others said, We will hear thee again of this matter. 33So departed from among them. Howbeit certain men clave unto him, and : among the which was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.
The 1611 translation, public domain. Its original printing included the Apocrypha, which is why the deuterocanonical books can be read here. Notes and cards are EKLI’s own.
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.