Acts 15–16

15^*And ^acertain men which came down from Judaea taught ^bthe brethren, and said, ^cExcept ye be circumcised ^dafter the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved. ^2*When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and ^edisputation with them, they determined that ^fPaul and Barnabas, and certain other of them, should ^ggo up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and ^helders about this question. ³And ⁱbeing brought on their way by the church, they passed through ^kPhenice and ^lSamaria, ^mdeclaring the conversion of the Gentiles: and they caused great joy unto all ^bthe brethren. ⁴And when they were come to Jerusalem, they were ⁿreceived of the church, and of the apostles and ^helders, and they ^odeclared all things that God had done with them. ⁵But there ^||rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying, ^cThat it was needful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.

⁶And the apostles and ^helders came together for to consider of this matter. ⁷And when there had been much ^edisputing, Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men and brethren, ye know how that ^pa good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe. ⁸And God, ^qwhich knoweth the hearts, ^rbare them witness, ^sgiving them the Holy Ghost, ^teven as he did unto us; ⁹And ^uput no difference between us and them, ^xpurifying their hearts ^yby faith. ¹⁰Now therefore why ^ztempt ye God, ^ato put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? ¹¹But we believe that ^bthrough the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they. ¹²Then all the multitude kept silence, and gave audience to Barnabas and Paul, ^cdeclaring what ^dmiracles and wonders ^eGod had wrought among the Gentiles by them.

¹³And after they had held their peace, ^fJames answered, saying, Men and brethren, hearken unto me: ^14gSimeon ^hhath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name. ¹⁵And to this agree the words of ⁱthe prophets; as it is written, ¹⁶After this I will return, and ^kwill build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up: ¹⁷That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things. ¹⁸Known unto God are all his works ^lfrom the beginning of the world. ¹⁹Wherefore ^mmy sentence is, that we ⁿtrouble not them, which from among the Gentiles ^oare turned to God: ²⁰But that we write unto them, that they abstain from ^ppollutions of idols, and from ^qfornication, and from ^rthings strangled, and from ^rblood. ²¹For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, ^sbeing read in the synagogues every sabbath day.

²²Then pleased it the apostles and ^telders, with the whole church, to send chosen men of their own company to ^uAntioch with Paul and Barnabas; namely, Judas surnamed ^xBarsabas, and ^ySilas, ^zchief men among ^athe brethren: ²³And they wrote letters by them after this manner; The apostles and ^telders and ^abrethren ^bsend greeting unto the ^abrethren which are of the Gentiles in ^uAntioch and ^cSyria and ^cdCilicia: ²⁴Forasmuch as we have heard, that ^ecertain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law: to whom we gave no such commandment: ^25fIt seemed good unto us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men unto you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, ²⁶Men ^gthat have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁷We have sent therefore ^hJudas and Silas, who shall also tell you the same things by ^†mouth. ²⁸For ^fiit seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things; ²⁹That ye abstain from ^kmeats offered to idols, and from ^lblood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. ^mFare ye well.

³⁰So when they were dismissed, they came to ⁿAntioch: and when they had gathered the multitude together, they delivered the epistle: ³¹Which when they had read, they rejoiced for the ^||consolation. ³²And ^hJudas and Silas, being ^oprophets also themselves, ^pexhorted the brethren with many words, and ^qconfirmed them. ³³And after they had tarried there a space, they were let go ^rin peace from the brethren unto the apostles. ³⁴Notwithstanding it pleased ^sSilas to abide there still. ^35tPaul also and Barnabas continued in ⁿAntioch, teaching and ^upreaching the word of the Lord, with many others also.

^36*And some days after Paul said unto Barnabas, Let us go again and visit our brethren ^xin every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and see how they do. ³⁷And Barnabas determined to take with them ^yJohn, whose surname was Mark. ³⁸But Paul thought not good to take him with them, ^zwho departed from them from ^aPamphylia, and went not with them to the work. ³⁹And the contention was so sharp between them, that they departed asunder one from the other: and so ^bBarnabas took ^yMark, and sailed unto ^cCyprus; ⁴⁰And Paul chose ^dSilas, and departed, being ^erecommended by the brethren unto ^fthe grace of God. ⁴¹And he went through ^gSyria and Cilicia, ^hconfirming the churches.

16Then came he to ^aDerbe and ^aLystra: and, behold, a certain disciple was there, named ^bTimotheus, ^cthe son of a certain woman, which was a Jewess, and believed; but his father was a Greek: ²Which ^dwas well reported of by the brethren that were at ^aLystra and ^eIconium. ³Him would Paul have to go forth with him; and ^ftook and circumcised him because of the Jews which were in those quarters: for they ^gknew all that his father was a Greek. ⁴And as they went through the cities, they delivered them the ^hdecrees for to keep, ⁱthat were ordained of the apostles and ^kelders which were at Jerusalem. ⁵And so were ^lthe churches established in the faith, and increased in number daily. ⁶Now when they had gone throughout ^mPhrygia and the region of ⁿGalatia, and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in ^oAsia, ⁷After they were come to Mysia, they assayed to go into ^pBithynia: but the Spirit suffered them not. ⁸And they passing by Mysia came down to ^qTroas. ⁹And ^ra vision appeared to Paul in the night; There stood a man of ^xMacedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us. ¹⁰And after he had seen ^rthe vision, immediately ^swe endeavoured to go into ^xMacedonia, ^tassuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them. ¹¹Therefore loosing from ^qTroas, we ^ucame with a straight course to Samothracia, and the next day to Neapolis; ¹²And from thence to ^wPhilippi, which is ^||the chief city of that part of ^xMacedonia, and ^ya colony: and we were in that city abiding certain days.

¹³And on the ^†sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down, and spake unto the women which resorted thither. ¹⁴And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of ^zThyatira, ^awhich worshipped God, heard us: whose ^bheart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul. ¹⁵And when she was baptized, ^cand her household, she besought us, saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and ^dabide there. And she ^econstrained us. ¹⁶And it came to pass, as we went to ^fprayer, a certain damsel possessed with ^ga spirit ^||of ^hdivination met us, which brought her masters ⁱmuch gain by soothsaying: ¹⁷The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, ^kThese men are the servants of ^lthe most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation. ¹⁸And this did she many days. ^kBut Paul, ^mbeing grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ ⁿto come out of her. ^oAnd he came out the same hour. ¹⁹And ^pwhen her masters saw that the hope of their ⁱgains was gone, they caught Paul and ^qSilas, and ^rdrew them into the ^||marketplace unto the rulers, ²⁰And brought them to ^sthe magistrates, saying, These men, being Jews, ^tdo exceedingly trouble our city, ²¹And ^uteach customs, which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, ^vbeing Romans. ²²And the multitude rose up together against them: and the ^smagistrates rent off their clothes, and commanded ^wto beat them. ²³And when they had laid many ^xstripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging ^ythe jailor to keep them safely: ²⁴Who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner ^zprison, and made their feet fast ^ain the stocks.

²⁵And ^bat midnight Paul and ^cSilas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them. ²⁶And suddenly ^dthere was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all ^ethe doors were opened, and every one’s bands were loosed. ²⁷And ^fthe keeper of the prison ^gawaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled. ²⁸But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here. ²⁹Then he called for a light, and ^hsprang in, and came trembling, and ⁱfell down before Paul and ^cSilas, ³⁰And brought them out, and said, Sirs, ^kwhat must I do to be saved? ³¹And they said, ^lBelieve on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and ^mthy house. ³²And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to ^mall that were in his house. ³³And he took them ⁿthe same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and ^lwas baptized, he and ^mall his, straightway. ³⁴And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with ^mall his house.

³⁵And when it was day, ^othe magistrates sent the serjeants, saying, Let those men go. ³⁶And ^fthe keeper of the prison told this saying to Paul, ^oThe…