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. 3 And 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. 4 And 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. 5 But 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.

6 And the apostles and helders came together for to consider of this matter. 7 And 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. 8 And God, qwhich knoweth the hearts, rbare them witness, sgiving them the Holy Ghost, teven as he did unto us; 9 And uput no difference between us and them, xpurifying their hearts yby faith. 10 Now 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? 11 But we believe that bthrough the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they. 12 Then 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.

13 And after they had held their peace, fJames answered, saying, Men and brethren, hearken unto me: 14 gSimeon hhath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name. 15 And to this agree the words of ithe prophets; as it is written, 16 After 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: 17 That 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. 18 Known unto God are all his works lfrom the beginning of the world. 19 Wherefore mmy sentence is, that we ntrouble not them, which from among the Gentiles oare turned to God: 20 But that we write unto them, that they abstain from ppollutions of idols, and from qfornication, and from rthings strangled, and from rblood. 21 For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, sbeing read in the synagogues every sabbath day.

22 Then 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: 23 And 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: 24 Forasmuch 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: 25 fIt seemed good unto us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men unto you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, 26 Men gthat have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 27 We have sent therefore hJudas and Silas, who shall also tell you the same things by †mouth. 28 For fiit seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things; 29 That 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.

30 So when they were dismissed, they came to nAntioch: and when they had gathered the multitude together, they delivered the epistle: 31 Which when they had read, they rejoiced for the ||consolation. 32 And hJudas and Silas, being oprophets also themselves, pexhorted the brethren with many words, and qconfirmed them. 33 And after they had tarried there a space, they were let go rin peace from the brethren unto the apostles. 34 Notwithstanding it pleased sSilas to abide there still. 35 tPaul 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. 37 And Barnabas determined to take with them yJohn, whose surname was Mark. 38 But Paul thought not good to take him with them, zwho departed from them from aPamphylia, and went not with them to the work. 39 And the contention was so sharp between them, that they departed asunder one from the other: and so bBarnabas took yMark, and sailed unto cCyprus; 40 And Paul chose dSilas, and departed, being erecommended by the brethren unto fthe grace of God. 41 And he went through gSyria and Cilicia, hconfirming the churches.

16 Then 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: 2 Which dwas well reported of by the brethren that were at aLystra and eIconium. 3 Him 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. 4 And 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. 5 And so were lthe churches established in the faith, and increased in number daily. 6 Now when they had gone throughout mPhrygia and the region of nGalatia, and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in oAsia, 7 After they were come to Mysia, they assayed to go into pBithynia: but the Spirit suffered them not. 8 And they passing by Mysia came down to qTroas. 9 And 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. 10 And 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. 11 Therefore loosing from qTroas, we ucame with a straight course to Samothracia, and the next day to Neapolis; 12 And 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.

13 And 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. 14 And 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. 15 And 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. 16 And 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: 17 The 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. 18 And 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. 19 And 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, 20 And brought them to sthe magistrates, saying, These men, being Jews, tdo exceedingly trouble our city, 21 And uteach customs, which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, vbeing Romans. 22 And the multitude rose up together against them: and the smagistrates rent off their clothes, and commanded wto beat them. 23 And when they had laid many xstripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging ythe jailor to keep them safely: 24 Who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner zprison, and made their feet fast ain the stocks.

25 And bat midnight Paul and cSilas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them. 26 And 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. 27 And 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. 28 But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here. 29 Then he called for a light, and hsprang in, and came trembling, and ifell down before Paul and cSilas, 30 And brought them out, and said, Sirs, kwhat must I do to be saved? 31 And they said, lBelieve on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and mthy house. 32 And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to mall that were in his house. 33 And he took them nthe same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and lwas baptized, he and mall his, straightway. 34 And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with mall his house.

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