Acts 17:15
What does Acts 17:15 mean?
A plain-English look at Acts 17:15 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What Acts 17:15 means
Those escorting Paul bring him to Athens, a renowned center of learning and religion. From there, he sends instructions for Silas and Timothy to come quickly. Paul values team ministry; even a gifted apostle seeks companionship and support. His urgency suggests both the weight of the task and concern for the churches left behind. Meanwhile, God has placed him in a city whose minds are open but misled. The gospel’s next hearing will not be in a synagogue alone but in the marketplace of ideas. Paul prepares to engage a culture saturated with idols and philosophies while awaiting his partners.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000But they that conducted Paul brought him as far as Athens: and receiving a commandment unto Silas and Timothy that they should come to him with all speed, they departed.
KJV
King James Version · 1611And they that conducted Paul brought him unto Athens: and receiving a commandment unto Silas and Timotheus for to come to him with all speed, they departed.
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901But they that conducted Paul brought him as far as Athens: and receiving a commandment unto Silas and Timothy that they should come to him with all speed, they departed.
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949But those who went with Paul took him as far as Athens, and then went away, with orders from him to Silas and Timothy to come to him quickly.
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862And those conducting Paul, brought him unto Athens, and having received a command unto Silas and Timotheus that with all speed they may come unto him, they departed;
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752And they that conducted Paul brought him as far as Athens: and receiving a commandment from him to Silas and Timothy, that they should come to him with all speed, they departed.
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890But they that conducted Paul brought him as far as Athens; and, having received a commandment to Silas and Timotheus, that they should come to him as quickly as possible, they departed.
Context
After sending Paul away from Beroea for safety (verse 14), his companions conduct him to Athens and receive his request that Silas and Timothy rejoin him rapidly. The scene now shifts to Athens itself. Verse 16 will describe Paul’s spirit being provoked by the city’s idolatry, prompting broad engagement—synagogue, marketplace, and, eventually, philosophers (verses 17–18). That engagement leads to an invitation to the Areopagus (verses 19–20), with Luke’s cultural aside about Athenian curiosity (verse 21) setting the scene for Paul’s carefully contextualized address (verses 22–31).
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- 2 Timothy 4:20
Erastus remained at Corinth: but Trophimus I left at Miletus sick.
- Acts 17:21
(Now all the Athenians and the strangers sojourning there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell or to hear some new thing.)
- Acts 18:5
But when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul was constrained by the word, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ.
- Titus 3:12
When I shall send Artemas unto thee, or Tychicus, give diligence to come unto me to Nicopolis: for there I have determined to winter.
- 1 Thessalonians 3:1
Wherefore when we could no longer forbear, we thought it good to be left behind at Athens alone;
- Acts 17:16
Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he beheld the city full of idols.
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