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Acts 17:33

in Acts 17

At that, Paul left the Areopagus.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

Thus Paul went out from among them.

KJV

So Paul departed from among them.

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This verse in Acts 17

Commentary

9 notes on this verse
So Paul departed - Seeing there was little hope of saving them. It was not his custom to labor long in a barren field, or to preach where there was no prospect of success.

This site's exposition

some mocked

on Acts 17:32-34

At the mention of the resurrection the audience splits three ways, some mocking outright, others deferring with a polite promise to hear more another time that Luke lets stand as its own kind of refusal, and a few clinging to Paul and believing. Among the believers Luke names Dionysius the Areopagite, a member of the council itself, and a woman named Damaris, converts drawn from the very body that had summoned Paul to answer for his doctrine. The speech produces no recorded church at Athens in Acts, and Paul's own later reflection in 1 Corinthians 2:1-5 about not coming with excellency of speech is sometimes read against this scene, though the text itself records neither failure nor regret, only a mixed harvest like every other city on the mission. The bench reads Athens as proof that eloquence and philosophical engagement, rightly used, still meet the same three responses the gospel meets everywhere, mockery, delay, and faith.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

John Chrysostom

Homily on Acts 39 · Written in the 5th century.

proposed

"And so," it says, "Paul went forth." How? Having persuaded some; derided by others. "But certain men," it says, "clave unto him, and believed, among whom was also Dionysius the Areopagite and some others." He did convert both Dionysius the Areopagite, and some others. For those who were careful of right living, quickly received the word; but the others not so.

The Medieval Church1 voice

A commentator

Theophylact of Ohrid

Commentary on Acts · Written before 1107.

proposed

"So Paul departed from among them." How? Having persuaded some, but being mocked by others.

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

19 ), that is, to the borders of Illyricum where he now was; and we may suppose though he is said only to pass through these cities, yet that he staid so long in them as to publish the gospel there, and to prepare the way for the entrance of other ministers among them, whom he would afterwards send.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-citation-number+unbalanced-parens

So Paul departed from among them.

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

So Paul departed--Whether he would have opened, to any extent, the Gospel scheme in this address, if he had not been interrupted, or whether he reserved this for exposition afterwards to earnest inquirers, we cannot tell. Only the speech is not to be judged of as quite complete.
2 more voices on this verse

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked--As the Greek religion was but the glorification of the present life, by the worship of all its most beauteous forms, the Resurrection, which presupposes the vanity of the present life, and is nothing but life out of the death of all that sin has blighted, could have no charm for the true Greek.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

So Paul departed from among them - He could not be convicted of having done any thing contrary to the law; and, when the assembly broke up, he was permitted to go about his own business.

The words behind it

7 Greek words

Every Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Where this verse is studied

About Acts

The Ascension, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
The Ascension, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Acts: the study guide →Read Acts 17 →
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Alexander Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture, Acts; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Acts of the Apostles; John Chrysostom, Homily on Acts 39; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on Acts.

Read on in Acts 17 →