Acts 17:22
New International Version
Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious.

New Living Translation
So Paul, standing before the council, addressed them as follows: “Men of Athens, I notice that you are very religious in every way,

English Standard Version
So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious.

Berean Standard Bible
Then Paul stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I see that in every way you are very religious.

Berean Literal Bible
And Paul, having stood in the midst of the Areopagus, was saying, "Men, Athenians, I behold that in all things you are very religious.

King James Bible
Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars' hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious.

New King James Version
Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious;

New American Standard Bible
So Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I see that you are very religious in all respects.

NASB 1995
So Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I observe that you are very religious in all respects.

NASB 1977
And Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I observe that you are very religious in all respects.

Legacy Standard Bible
So Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I observe that you are very religious in all respects.

Amplified Bible
So Paul, standing in the center of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I observe [with every turn I make throughout the city] that you are very religious and devout in all respects.

Christian Standard Bible
Paul stood in the middle of the Areopagus and said, “People of Athens! I see that you are extremely religious in every respect.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Then Paul stood in the middle of the Areopagus and said: “Men of Athens! I see that you are extremely religious in every respect.

American Standard Version
And Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus, and said, Ye men of Athens, in all things, I perceive that ye are very religious.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And when Paulus arose in Arios-Pagos, he said, “Men, Athenians, I see that in all things you excel in the worship of daemons.”

Contemporary English Version
So Paul stood up in front of the council and said: People of Athens, I see that you are very religious.

Douay-Rheims Bible
But Paul standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are too superstitious.

English Revised Version
And Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus, and said, Ye men of Athens, in all things I perceive that ye are somewhat superstitious.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Paul stood in the middle of the court and said, "Men of Athens, I see that you are very religious.

Good News Translation
Paul stood up in front of the city council and said, "I see that in every way you Athenians are very religious.

International Standard Version
So Paul stood up in front of the Areopagus and said, "Men of Athens, I see that you are very religious in every way.

Literal Standard Version
And Paul, having stood in the midst of the Areopagus, said, “Men, Athenians, in all things I perceive you as over-religious;

Majority Standard Bible
Then Paul stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I see that in every way you are very religious.

New American Bible
Then Paul stood up at the Areopagus and said: “You Athenians, I see that in every respect you are very religious.

NET Bible
So Paul stood before the Areopagus and said, "Men of Athens, I see that you are very religious in all respects.

New Revised Standard Version
Then Paul stood in front of the Areopagus and said, “Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way.

New Heart English Bible
Paul stood in the middle of the Areopagus, and said, "You men of Athens, I perceive that you are very religious in all things.

Webster's Bible Translation
Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars-hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious.

Weymouth New Testament
So Paul, taking his stand in the centre of the Areopagus, spoke as follows: "Men of Athens, I perceive that you are in every respect remarkably religious.

World English Bible
Paul stood in the middle of the Areopagus and said, “You men of Athens, I perceive that you are very religious in all things.

Young's Literal Translation
And Paul, having stood in the midst of the Areopagus, said, 'Men, Athenians, in all things I perceive you as over-religious;

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Paul Before the Areopagus
21Now all the Athenians and foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing more than hearing and articulating new ideas. 22Then Paul stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I see that in every way you are very religious. 23For as I walked around and examined your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore what you worship as something unknown, I now proclaim to you.…

Cross References
Acts 17:15
Those who escorted Paul brought him to Athens and then returned with instructions for Silas and Timothy to join him as soon as possible.

Acts 17:19
So they took Paul and brought him to the Areopagus, where they asked him, "May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting?

Acts 17:34
But some joined him and believed, including Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others who were with them.

Acts 25:19
They only had some contentions with him regarding their own religion and a certain Jesus who had died, but whom Paul affirmed to be alive.


Treasury of Scripture

Then Paul stood in the middle of Mars' hill, and said, You men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are too superstitious.

Mars'-hill.

Acts 17:19
And they took him, and brought him unto Areopagus, saying, May we know what this new doctrine, whereof thou speakest, is?

I perceive.

Acts 17:16
Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry.

Acts 19:35
And when the townclerk had appeased the people, he said, Ye men of Ephesus, what man is there that knoweth not how that the city of the Ephesians is a worshipper of the great goddess Diana, and of the image which fell down from Jupiter?

Acts 25:19
But had certain questions against him of their own superstition, and of one Jesus, which was dead, whom Paul affirmed to be alive.

Jump to Previous
Areopagus Are-Op'agus Athenians Athens Centre Demon Fear Feet Follows Gods Hill Mars Meeting Middle Midst Observe Overmuch Paul Perceive Religious Respect Respects Stand Standing Stood Way Worship
Jump to Next
Areopagus Are-Op'agus Athenians Athens Centre Demon Fear Feet Follows Gods Hill Mars Meeting Middle Midst Observe Overmuch Paul Perceive Religious Respect Respects Stand Standing Stood Way Worship
Acts 17
1. Paul preaches at Thessalonica, where some believe,
5. and others persecute him.
10. He is sent to Berea, and preaches there.
13. Being persecuted by Jews from Thessalonica,
16. he comes to Athens, and disputes and preaches the living God, to them unknown;
32. whereby, though some mock, many are converted unto Christ.














(22) Paul stood in the midst of Mars' hill.--Better, Areopagus, as before. The Court sat in the open air on benches forming three sides of a quadrangle. A short flight of sixteen steps, cut in the rock, led from the agora to the plateau where the Court held its sittings. If it was actually sitting at the time, the temptation to have recourse to it, if only to cause a sensation and terrify the strange disputant, may well have been irresistible. As the Apostle stood there, he looked from the slight elevation on the temple of the Eumenides below him, that of Theseus to the east, and facing him on the Acropolis, the Parthenon. On the height of that hill stood the colossal bronze statue of Athena as the tutelary goddess of her beloved Athens, below and all around him were statues and altars. The city was "very full of idols."

Verse 22. - And for then, A.V.; the Areopagus for Mars hill, A.V.; in all things I perceive that for I perceive that in all things, A.V.; somewhat for too, A.V. In the midst is simply a local description. He stood in the midst of the excavated quadrangle, while his hearers probably sat on the scats all round. Ye men of Athena. The Demosthenes of the Church uses the identical address - Ἄνδρες Ἀθηναῖοι ( which the great orator used in his stirring political speeches to the Athenian people. Somewhat superstitious. There is a difference of opinion among commentators whether these words imply praise or blame. Chrysostom, followed by many others, takes it as said in the way of encomium, and understands the word δεισιδαιμονεστέρους ασ equivalent to εὐλαβεστέρους, very religious, more than commonly religious. And so Bishop Jacobson ('Speaker's Commentary'), who observes that the substantive δεισδαιμονία is used five times by Josephus, and always in the sense of "religion," or "piety." On the other hand, the Vulgate (superstitiosiores), the English Versions, Erasmus, Luther, Calvin, etc., take the word in its most common classical sense of "superstitious;" and it weighs for something towards determining St. Luke's use of the word that Plutarch uses δεισιδαιμονία always in a bad sense, of superstition, as in his life of Alexander and elsewhere, and in his tract 'De Superstitione' (Δεισιδαιμονία). Perhaps the conclusion is that St. Paul, having his spirit stirred by seeing the city full of idols, determined to attack that spirit in the Athenian people which led to so much idolatry; which he did in the speech which follows. But, acting with his usual wisdom, he used an inoffensive term at the outset of his speech. He could not mean to praise them for that δεισιδαιμονία which it was the whole object of his sermon to condemn. Josephus ('Contr. Apion.,' 1:12) calls the Athenians τοὺς εὐσεβεστάτους τῶν Ἐλλήνων, the most religious of all Greeks (Howson).

Parallel Commentaries ...


Greek
Then
δὲ (de)
Conjunction
Strong's 1161: A primary particle; but, and, etc.

Paul
Παῦλος (Paulos)
Noun - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 3972: Paul, Paulus. Of Latin origin; Paulus, the name of a Roman and of an apostle.

stood up
Σταθεὶς (Statheis)
Verb - Aorist Participle Passive - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 2476: A prolonged form of a primary stao stah'-o; to stand, used in various applications.

before
μέσῳ (mesō)
Adjective - Dative Neuter Singular
Strong's 3319: Middle, in the middle, between, in the midst of. From meta; middle (neuter) noun).

the
τοῦ (tou)
Article - Genitive Masculine Singular
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

Areopagus
Ἀρείου (Areiou)
Noun - Genitive Masculine Singular
Strong's 697: From Ares and a derivative of pegnumi; rock of Ares, a place in Athens.

[and] said,
ἔφη (ephē)
Verb - Imperfect Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 5346: To say, declare. Properly, the same as the base of phos and phaino; to show or make known one's thoughts, i.e. Speak or say.

“Men
Ἄνδρες (Andres)
Noun - Vocative Masculine Plural
Strong's 435: A male human being; a man, husband. A primary word; a man.

[of] Athens,
Ἀθηναῖοι (Athēnaioi)
Adjective - Vocative Masculine Plural
Strong's 117: Athenian, belonging to Athens. From Athenai; an Athenoean or inhabitant of Athenae.

I see
θεωρῶ (theōrō)
Verb - Present Indicative Active - 1st Person Singular
Strong's 2334: From a derivative of theaomai; to be a spectator of, i.e. Discern, (experience) or intensively (acknowledge).

that
ὡς (hōs)
Adverb
Strong's 5613: Probably adverb of comparative from hos; which how, i.e. In that manner.

in
κατὰ (kata)
Preposition
Strong's 2596: A primary particle; down, in varied relations (genitive, dative or accusative) with which it is joined).

every way
πάντα (panta)
Adjective - Accusative Neuter Plural
Strong's 3956: All, the whole, every kind of. Including all the forms of declension; apparently a primary word; all, any, every, the whole.

you [are]
ὑμᾶς (hymas)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Accusative 2nd Person Plural
Strong's 4771: You. The person pronoun of the second person singular; thou.

very religious.
δεισιδαιμονεστέρους (deisidaimonesterous)
Adjective - Accusative Masculine Plural - Comparative
Strong's 1174: The compound of a derivative of the base of deilos and daimon; more religious than others.


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NT Apostles: Acts 17:22 Paul stood in the middle (Acts of the Apostles Ac)
Acts 17:21
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