But certain ones of both the Epicurean and the Stoic philosophers took to conversing with him controversially, and some would say: ‘What is it this chatterer would like to tell?’ Others: ‘He seems to be a publisher of foreign deities.’ This was because he was declaring the good news of Jesus and the resurrection.

4. How did some of the philosophers view Paul, and what did Paul preach to them?

⁴ The philosophers referred derogatorily to Paul as a chatterer, a translation of the Greek word spermologos, meaning “seed picker.” It signified a crow or other bird that picked up seeds, and was applied to a man who frequented the streets and markets and picked up scraps that dropped off loads; hence, a hanger-on who lived at the expense of others. Figuratively, in Athenian slang, the expression referred to a man who picked up scraps of information and used them to impress others, but was actually an ignorant plagiarist. However, Paul was no idle babbler. He preached to them about “the God that made the world and all the things in it,” that “he himself gives to all persons life and breath” and that “he made out of one man every nation of men.” Concerning Jesus, Paul said that God “has resurrected him from the dead.” This caused some to mock, but others believed and joined themselves to Paul.​—Acts 17:24-26, 31-34.