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17 So indeed he was reasoning in the synagogue with the Jews and the ones worshiping, and in the marketplace every day with the ones happening-to-be-there. 18 And some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also were conversing with him. And some were saying, “What would this scavenger[a] be intending to say?” And others, “He seems to be a proclaimer of strange deities[b]”— because he was announcing-the-good-news as to Jesus and the resurrection. 19 And having taken-hold-of him, they brought him to the Areopagus[c], saying, “Can we know what this new teaching being spoken by you is?

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Footnotes

  1. Acts 17:18 This rendering ridicules Paul as a gatherer of random tidbits of truth, like a bird in the marketplace. Or, babbler. This rendering ridicules him as an unsophisticated proclaimer of such tidbits.
  2. Acts 17:18 Or, gods, divinities, as the pagans used this term. To Jews and Christians this word meant ‘demons’.
  3. Acts 17:19 That is, the city’s governing council, which met on the ‘hill of Ares’ (the Greek god of war, whom the Romans called ‘Mars’).

17 So he reasoned in the synagogue(A) with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there. 18 A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to debate with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news(B) about Jesus and the resurrection.(C) 19 Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus,(D) where they said to him, “May we know what this new teaching(E) is that you are presenting?

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