Genesis to Revelation Bible
Reading Plan
November 14
Acts 17-18
Chapter 17
Paul at Thessalonica
1 Now when they had traveled through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica,
where there was a synagogue of the Jews.
2 And according to Paul’s custom, he went to them, and for three Sabbaths
reasoned with them from the Scriptures,
3 explaining and giving evidence that the Christ had to suffer and rise
again from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus whom I am proclaiming to
you is the Christ.”
4 And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, along with
a large number of the God-fearing Greeks and a number of the leading
women.
5 But the Jews, becoming jealous and taking along some wicked men from the
market place, formed a mob and set the city in an uproar; and attacking the house
of Jason, they were seeking to bring them out to the people.
6 When they did not find them, they began dragging Jason and some brethren
before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have upset the
world have come here also;
7 and Jason has welcomed them, and they all act contrary to the decrees
of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.”
8 They stirred up the crowd and the city authorities who heard these things.
9 And when they had received a pledge from Jason and the others, they released
them.
Paul at Berea
10 The brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea,
and when they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews.
11 Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they
received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see
whether these things were so.
12 Therefore many of them believed, along with a number of prominent Greek
women and men.
13 But when the Jews of Thessalonica found out that the word of God had been
proclaimed by Paul in Berea also, they came there as well, agitating and stirring
up the crowds.
14 Then immediately the brethren sent Paul out to go as far as the sea; and
Silas and Timothy remained there.
15 Now those who escorted Paul brought him as far as Athens; and receiving
a command for Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as possible, they
left.
Paul at Athens
16 Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was being provoked
within him as he was observing the city full of idols.
17 So he was reasoning in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing
Gentiles, and in the market place every day with those who happened to be present.
18 And also some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers were conversing with
him. Some were saying, “What would this idle babbler wish to say?” Others, “He
seems to be a proclaimer of strange deities,”—because he was preaching
Jesus and the resurrection.
19 And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May
we know what this new teaching is which you are proclaiming?
20 “For you are bringing some strange things to our ears; so we want to
know what these things mean.”
21 (Now all the Athenians and the strangers visiting there used to spend their
time in nothing other than telling or hearing something new.)
Sermon on Mars Hill
22 So Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens,
I observe that you are very religious in all respects.
23 “For while I was passing through and examining the objects of your
worship, I also found an altar with this inscription, ‘TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.’ Therefore
what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you.
24 “The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord
of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands;
25 nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He
Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things;
26 and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face
of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of
their habitation,
27 that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him,
though He is not far from each one of us;
28 for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets
have said, ‘For we also are His children.’
29 “Being then the children of God, we ought not to think that the Divine
Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought
of man.
30 “Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now
declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent,
31 because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness
through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by
raising Him from the dead.”
32 Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some began to sneer,
but others said, “We shall hear you again concerning this.”
33 So Paul went out of their midst.
34 But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite
and a woman named Damaris and others with them.
Chapter 18
Paul at Corinth
1 After these things he left Athens and went to Corinth.
2 And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, having recently
come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded
all
the Jews to leave Rome. He came to them,
3 and because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and they were
working, for by trade they were tent-makers.
4 And he was reasoning in the synagogue every Sabbath and trying to persuade
Jews and Greeks.
5 But when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul began devoting
himself completely to the word, solemnly testifying to the Jews that Jesus
was the Christ.
6 But when they resisted and blasphemed, he shook out his garments and said
to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am clean. From now on I
will go to the Gentiles.”
7 Then he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus,
a worshiper of God, whose house was next to the synagogue.
8 Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, believed in the Lord with all
his household, and many of the Corinthians when they heard were believing
and being
baptized.
9 And the Lord said to Paul in the night by a vision, “Do not be afraid
any longer, but go on speaking and do not be silent;
10 for I am with you, and no man will attack you in order to harm you, for
I have many people in this city.”
11 And he settled there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among
them.
12 But while Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews with one accord
rose up against Paul and brought him before the judgment seat,
13 saying, “This man persuades men to worship God contrary to the law.”
14 But when Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, “If
it were a matter of wrong or of vicious crime, O Jews, it would be reasonable
for me to put up with you;
15 but if there are questions about words and names and your own law, look
after it yourselves; I am unwilling to be a judge of these matters.”
16 And he drove them away from the judgment seat.
17 And they all took hold of Sosthenes, the leader of the synagogue, and
began beating him in front of the judgment seat. But Gallio was not concerned
about any of these things.
18 Paul, having remained many days longer, took leave of the brethren and
put out to sea for Syria, and with him were Priscilla and Aquila. In
Cenchrea he had his hair cut, for he was keeping a vow.
19 They came to Ephesus, and he left them there. Now he himself entered the
synagogue and reasoned with the Jews.
20 When they asked him to stay for a longer time, he did not consent,
21 but taking leave of them and saying, “I will return to you again if
God wills,” he set sail from Ephesus.
22 When he had landed at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the church, and
went down to Antioch.
Third Missionary Journey
23 And having spent some time there, he left and passed successively through
the Galatian region and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.
24 Now a Jew named Apollos, an Alexandrian by birth, an eloquent man,
came to Ephesus; and he was mighty in the Scriptures.
25 This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent
in spirit, he was speaking and teaching accurately the things concerning Jesus,
being acquainted only with the baptism of John;
26 and he began to speak out boldly in the synagogue. But when Priscilla
and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of
God more accurately.
27 And when he wanted to go across to Achaia, the brethren encouraged him
and wrote to the disciples to welcome him; and when he had arrived, he greatly
helped those who had believed through grace,
28 for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, demonstrating by the Scriptures
that Jesus was the Christ.
"Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, © Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation Used by permission." (www.Lockman.org)