Acts 15:4-20

⁴And having come to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church, and by the apostles and elders, and they related what great things God had wrought with them.

⁵But there rose up certain believers of the sect of the Pharisees, saying, It is necessary to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.

⁶And the apostles and the elders came together to consider this matter.

⁷And after much debate, Peter rose up and said to them, Brethren, ye know that a long time ago God made choice among you, that by my mouth the gentiles should hear the word of the glad tidings, and believe.

⁸And God, who knoweth the heart, bore them witness, giving them the Holy Spirit, as he gave it to us;

⁹and made no difference between us and them, having purified their hearts by faith.

¹⁰Now therefore why do ye provoke the anger of God, by putting a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?

¹¹But we believe that we shall be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same manner as they.

¹²And all the multitude became silent, and listened to Barnabas and Paul, while they related what great signs and wonders God had wrought among the gentiles by them.

¹³And after they had done speaking, James answered, saying, Brethren, hearken to me.

¹⁴Simeon hath related how God first visited the gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name.

¹⁵And with this agree the words of the Prophets, as it is written:

¹⁶“After this I will return, and will rebuild the tabernacle of David which hath fallen; and I will rebuild its ruins, and will set it up;

¹⁷that the rest of men may seek after the Lord, and all the gentiles, who have been called by my name, saith the Lord, who doeth these things,

¹⁸which were known from the beginning.”

¹⁹Wherefore my judgment is, that we should not trouble those who from among the gentiles are turning to God;

²⁰but that we should write to them by letter to abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from that which hath been strangled, and from blood.