Acts 15:13-25

¹³After they had finished speaking, James addressed the Council. “Friends,” he began, “hear what I have to say.

¹⁴Simon has described the manner in which God first visited the Gentiles, in order to take from amongst them a people to bear his name.

¹⁵And that is in harmony with the words of the prophets, where they say —

¹⁶‘After this I will return; And I will rebuild the house of David which has fallen — Its ruins I will rebuild, And will set it up once more;

¹⁷That so the rest of mankind may earnestly seek the Lord — Even all the Gentiles on whom my name has been bestowed.

¹⁸Says the Lord, as he does these things, known from long ago.’

¹⁹In my judgement, therefore, we should not add to the difficulties of those Gentiles who are turning to God,

²⁰but we should write to them to abstain from food that has been polluted by being sacrificed to idols, from impurity, from eating the flesh of strangled animals, and from blood.

²¹For in every town, for generations past, there have been those who preach Moses, read as he is in the synagogues every Sabbath.”

²²It was then decided by the apostles and the elders, with the assent of the whole church, to choose some of their number, and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. Those chosen were Judas (called Barsabas) and Silas, who were leaders amongst the community.

²³They were bearers of the following letter — ‘The apostles, and the followers who are the church elders, send their greetings to the followers of the Lord of Gentile birth in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia.

²⁴As we had heard that some of our number had upset you by their assertions, and unsettled your minds — without instructions from us —

²⁵We met and decided to choose certain men and send them to you with our dear friends Barnabas and Paul,