In Thessalonica

17 When Paul and his companions had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica,^(A) where there was a Jewish synagogue. ² As was his custom, Paul went into the synagogue,^(B) and on three Sabbath^(C) days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures,^{(D) 3} explaining and proving that the Messiah had to suffer^(E) and rise from the dead.^(F) “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah,”^(G) he said. ⁴ Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas,^(H) as did a large number of God-fearing Greeks and quite a few prominent women.

In Berea

¹⁰ As soon as it was night, the believers sent Paul and Silas^(A) away to Berea.^(B) On arriving there, they went to the Jewish synagogue.^{(C) 11} Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica,^(D) for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures^(E) every day to see if what Paul said was true.^{(F) 12} As a result, many of them believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men.^(G)

²² Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus^(A) and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious.^{(B) 23} For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship^(C)—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.

²⁴ “The God who made the world and everything in it^(D) is the Lord of heaven and earth^(E) and does not live in temples built by human hands.^{(F) 25} And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.^(G)

²⁸ ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’^[a](A) As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’^[b]