Mars' Hill

Looking down on modern day Athens from Mars' Hill.

Looking up to the Acropolis from Mars' Hill.

In Acts chapter 17 we read of the Apostle Paul speaking to the Athenians of his day. That great discourse took place on Mars' Hill just outside Athens. Mars' Hill still exists and those who want to climb up the slippery and rough marble rocks can do so. I had the opportunity one morning to climb Mars' Hill with Jerry Hansen so he could explain on camera the importance of Mars' Hill.

It was a great experience to stand where Paul once stood and then at the end of our trip, stand where he is buried at Basilica San Paolo Fuori le Mura (St. Paul's Basilica) in Rome.

NOTE: If you follow the previous link, be sure to click on the "Vitural Tour" button. You'll see how amazing this basilica is, second only to St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican.

Here is the text of what he said on Mars' Hill from the King James Version of the Bible:

22 ¶ Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars’ hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are ^atoo superstitious.

23 For as I passed by, and beheld your ^adevotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE ^bUNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ^cignorantly worship, him ^ddeclare I unto you.

24 God that ^amade the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, ^bdwelleth not in temples made with hands;

25 Neither is ^aworshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and ^bbreath, and all things;

26 And hath ^amade of ^bone ^cblood ^dall ^enations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath ^fdetermined the ^gtimes before ^happointed, and the ⁱbounds of their habitation;

27 That they should ^aseek the Lord, ^bif haply they might ^cfeel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:

28 For in him we ^alive, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his ^boffspring.

29 Forasmuch then as we are the ^aoffspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto ^bgold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s ^cdevice.

30 And the times of this ^aignorance God ^bwinked at; but now ^ccommandeth all men every where to ^drepent:

31 Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will ^ajudge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ^bordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath ^craised him from the dead.

32 ¶ And when they heard of the ^aresurrection of the dead, some ^bmocked: and others said, We will hear thee again of this matter.

33 So Paul departed from among them.

34 Howbeit certain men clave unto him, and believed: among the which was Dionysius the ^aAreopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.