and got hold of the loafers in the
market-place, and raised a mob and started a riot in the city. They
attacked Jason's house, so as to bring Paul and Silas out before the
people, and when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some of
the brothers before the city officials, shouting, "These men who have
upset the whole world have come here too! Jason has welcomed them. They
do not keep the laws of Caesar and declare that some one else called
Jesus is king." On hearing this the crowd and the city officials were
greatly troubled; but after Jason and the others had pledged to keep the
peace, they let them go.

Then the brothers at once sent Paul and Silas away by night to Beroea.
When they arrived there, they went to the Jewish synagogue, where the
people were of a nobler spirit than at Thessalonica, for they were very
ready to hear the teaching about Jesus, and studied their scriptures
daily to see if what Paul said was true. Many of the Jews believed and
also prominent Greek women and many men.

As soon as the Jews at Thessalonica learned that God's message was being
proclaimed by Paul at Beroea, they came there also to stir up the
people to riot. Then the brothers at once sent Paul on his way to the
sea-coast, but Silas and Timothy stayed at Beroea. The friends who
escorted Paul went with him as far as Athens, and left him there, after
receiving instructions that Silas and Timothy were to come to him as
soon as possible.

PAUL'S GREAT SPEECH AT ATHENS

While Paul was waiting at Athens for Silas and Timothy, his anger was
aroused when he saw that the city was filled with idols. So he argued in
the synagogue with the Jews and with the Greeks who joined in their
worship, and every day with those whom he happened to meet in the
market-place. A few of the philosophers also met him. Some of them said,
"What has this picker-up of scraps of learning to say?" Others said, "He
seems to be a herald of some new deities." This was because he had been
telling the good news about Jesus and how he rose from the dead. And
they took him to the Court of Areopagus and said, "May we hear what this
new teaching of yours is? For the things you are saying sound strange to
us; so we want to know what they mean." (For all the Athenians and the
foreign visitors spent their time doing nothing but telling or hearing
something new.)

So Paul stood in the middle of the Court and said, "Men of Athens, I see
wherever I go that you are