Passage

Acts 17.32

Book: Acts · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

30. The times of ignorance therefore God overlooked; but now he commandeth men that they should all everywhere repent: 31. inasmuch as he hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.

32. Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked; but others said, We will hear thee concerning this yet again.

Thus Paul went out from among them. 34. But certain men clave unto him, and believed: among whom also was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them. (Acts 17:30-34, ASV)

WEB

30. The times of ignorance therefore God overlooked. But now he commands that all people everywhere should repent, 31. because he has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained; of which he has given assurance to all men, in that he has raised him from the dead.”

32. Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked; but others said, “We want to hear you again concerning this.”

Thus Paul went out from among them. 34. But certain men joined with him, and believed, among whom also was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them. (Acts 17:30-34, WEB)

KJV

30. And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: 31. Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. ^{hath given: or, offered faith}

32. And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked: and others said, We will hear thee again of this matter.

So Paul departed from among them. 34. Howbeit certain men clave unto him, and believed: among the which was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them. (Acts 17:30-34, KJV)

YLT

30. the times, indeed, therefore, of the ignorance God having overlooked, doth now command all men everywhere to reform, 31. because He did set a day in which He is about to judge the world in righteousness, by a man whom He did ordain, having given assurance to all, having raised him out of the dead.'

32. And having heard of a rising again of the dead, some, indeed, were mocking, but others said, 'We will hear thee again concerning this;'

and so Paul went forth from the midst of them, 34. and certain men having cleaved to him, did believe, among whom [is] also Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman, by name Damaris, and others with them. (Acts 17:30-34, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: the narrator of Acts, traditionally Luke, reporting the hearers' reaction
Audience: the Athenians who brought him there, including Epicurean and Stoic philosophers (17:18-21), with the council of the Areopagus
Location: the Areopagus at Athens; the name belonged both to the hill of Ares northwest of the Acropolis and to the ancient council that took its name from it, and which of the two Luke means is debated
Time period: c. AD 50, on Paul's second missionary journey, shortly before his eighteen months in Corinth (Acts 18:11)

Theological reading

"Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked; but others said, We will hear thee concerning this yet again." The reaction comes at the word "resurrection," the last claim of Paul's speech (17:31).

What they heard. "The resurrection of the dead" (Strong's G386, G3498) is the bodily raising of a dead man, which Paul had offered as God's proof that Jesus is the appointed judge. It was the same subject that had puzzled the philosophers in the marketplace, when they took Paul for a setter forth of strange gods "because he preached Jesus and the resurrection" (17:18).

Why some mocked. The verb (G5512) means to scoff or jeer. Neither the Epicureans, who held that the soul disperses at death, nor the Stoics expected a dead body to be raised. Greek literature could state the denial directly: in Aeschylus's Eumenides, the drama of the founding of the Areopagus court, Apollo says that once the dust has drunk a dead man's blood "there is no resurrection" (anastasis) (Eumenides 647-648). Paul's claim contradicted what many in his audience took as obvious.

Why others wanted more. "We will hear thee concerning this yet again" may be polite dismissal or genuine interest; Luke does not say which. The two responses show that the resurrection is the point at which the gospel either draws people further in or is set aside. It was the dividing line in Jerusalem as well, where the Sadducees were "sore troubled because they... proclaimed in Jesus the resurrection from the dead" (4:2), and Paul later asked King Agrippa, "Why is it judged incredible with you, if God doth raise the dead?" (26:8).

Not the end of the story. The next verses report that some "clave unto him, and believed" (17:34). Mockery was one response, not the only one. See Minimal Facts Argument and Resurrection of the Body.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

G0386 - anastasis, anastasis, Strong's G0386
G3498 - nekros, nekros, Strong's G3498
G0191 - akouo, akouo, Strong's G0191

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Concepts:

Apologetics, via Acts 17.16-34
Apologist, via Acts 17.16-34
Engaging the Conclusion-Fixed Skeptic, via Acts 17.32-34
Lesson 1.2, The Biblical Charge, via Acts 17.16-34
Lesson 5.1, The Apologist-to-Evangelist Transition, via Acts 17.16-34
Polytheism, via Acts 17.16-34
Preaching to Non-Believers
Resurrection of the Body
Zeitgeist - Pagan Parallels, via Acts 17.22-34

Lexicon:

G0386 - anastasis, via Acts 17.31-32

Guides:

01 Foundations, via Acts 17.16-34

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.