The places where you worship technically means “the object of your worship” (so Revised Standard Version), and is rendered by Jerusalem Bible as “sacred monuments.” Although the word may technically mean “object or thing worshiped,” in reality it was an object set up at a certain place where worship was offered to the god in whose name the object had been erected. It was customary for Greeks and others to dedicate altars to “unknown gods,” for fear that in their worship they had omitted some god who might otherwise be offended. Inscriptions have been found indicating that certain altars were dedicated “to unknown gods,” but thus far no inscription has been found dedicating an altar “to an unknown god,” though no doubt such an altar existed in Athens in Paul’s day. Since in many societies there are almost the exact equivalent of such places where you worship, it is usually not difficult to find a general term for such “shrines.” In any event, one can always translate “the places where you worship various gods.”

In some languages a clear distinction is made between something which is “written” and something which is “cut into stone.” It is quite likely that in this instance the inscription “To an Unknown God” would be cut into stone.

Though you do not know it translates a participle which in Greek modifies the subject “you” rather than the verb “worship.” The King James Version (“whom therefore ye ignorantly worship”) is incorrect in translating the participle by “ignorantly” as though it modifies the verb “worship.” Paul is either telling the Athenians (1) that the unknown god whom they worship is indeed the true God, though they do not know it (Good News Translation that which you worship then, even though you do not know it; Zürcher Bibel “what therefore you worship without knowing it”; Jerusalem Bible “whom you already worship without knowing it”), or (2) that the unknown god whom they worship is the true God, but he is unknown to them (New English Bible “what you worship but do not know”). The essence of Paul’s message to the Athenians may be summed up in the following way: (1) this unknown god whom you worship is the true God though you do not know it; (2) you can learn much about this unknown God by observing what he has done in the creative order; (3) this true God will remain unknown to you until you meet him in the person of Jesus Christ.

Two other observations should be taken into consideration in the translation of this verse: (1) Paul uses the neuter that which … what rather than the masculine “he whom … whom.” He begins with his hearers’ belief in an impersonal divine being and goes from there to tell them about the living God, who is Creator and Judge of all men. (2) In the clause what I now proclaim to you, the pronoun “I” is emphatic.

There are a number of difficulties involved in the translation of the last sentence of verse 23. In the first place, it is impossible in a number of languages to represent the neuter forms that which, it, and what. Having once spoken of God, it is necessary to use some personal pronoun—for example, “the one whom you worship.” Furthermore, there are difficulties with the embedded clause even though you do not know it. In fact, in many languages this must be placed at the end of the sentence as a kind of contrastive clause—for example, “the one whom you worship is the one I am proclaiming to you but you do not realize this.” On the other hand, if one adopts another exegesis of this final sentence, it is possible to translate: “you do not know the one whom you worship, but this is the one that I am now telling you about.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The Acts of the Apostles. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1972. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .