Acts 15–16

Chapter 15

The Council at Jerusalem

^1aSome men came down from Judea and began teaching ^bthe brethren, “Unless you are ^ccircumcised according to ^dthe custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.”

²And when Paul and Barnabas had ¹great dissension and ^adebate with them, ^bthe brethren determined that Paul and Barnabas and some others of them should go up to Jerusalem to the ^capostles and elders concerning this issue.

³Therefore, being ^asent on their way by the church, they were passing through both ^bPhoenicia and Samaria, ^cdescribing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles, and were bringing great joy to all ^dthe brethren.

⁴When they arrived at Jerusalem, they were received by the church and ^athe apostles and the elders, and they ^breported all that God had done with them.

⁵But some of ^athe sect of the ^bPharisees who had believed stood up, saying, “It is necessary to ^ccircumcise them and to direct them to observe the Law of Moses.”

^6aThe apostles and the elders came together to ¹look into this ²matter.

⁷After there had been much ^adebate, Peter stood up and said to them, “Brethren, you know that ¹in the early days ^bGod made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles would hear the word of ^cthe gospel and believe.

⁸“And God, ^awho knows the heart, testified to them ^bgiving them the Holy Spirit, just as He also did to us;

⁹and ^aHe made no distinction between us and them, ^bcleansing their hearts by faith.

¹⁰“Now therefore why do you ^aput God to the test by placing upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which ^bneither our fathers nor we have been able to bear?

¹¹“But we believe that we are saved through ^athe grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they also are.”

¹²All the people kept silent, and they were listening to Barnabas and Paul as they were ^arelating what ^bsigns and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles.

James’s Judgment

¹³After they had stopped speaking, ^1aJames answered, saying, “Brethren, listen to me.

¹⁴“^aSimeon has related how God first concerned Himself about taking from among the Gentiles a people for His name.

¹⁵“With this the words of ^athe Prophets agree, just as it is written,

¹⁶‘^aAfter these things ^bI will return,

And I will rebuild the ¹tabernacle of David which has fallen,

And I will rebuild its ruins,

And I will restore it,

^17aSo that the rest of ¹mankind may seek the Lord,

And all the Gentiles ^2bwho are called by My name,’

^18aSays the Lord, who ^1bmakes these things known from long ago.

¹⁹“Therefore it is ^amy judgment that we do not trouble those who are turning to God from among the Gentiles,

²⁰but that we write to them that they abstain from ^1athings contaminated by idols and from ^bfornication and from ^cwhat is strangled and from blood.

²¹“For ^aMoses from ancient generations has in every city those who preach him, since ¹he is read in the synagogues every Sabbath.”

²²Then it seemed good to ^athe apostles and the elders, with the whole church, to choose men from among them to send to ^bAntioch with Paul and Barnabas—Judas called Barsabbas, and ^cSilas, leading men among ^dthe brethren,

²³and they ¹sent this letter by them,

“^aThe apostles and the brethren who are elders, to ^bthe brethren in ^cAntioch and ^dSyria and ^eCilicia who are from the Gentiles, ^fgreetings.

²⁴“Since we have heard that ^asome ¹of our number to whom we gave no instruction have ^bdisturbed you with their words, unsettling your souls,

^25ait seemed good to us, having ¹become of one mind, to select men to send to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul,

²⁶men who have ^1arisked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

²⁷“Therefore we have sent ^aJudas and ^bSilas, who themselves will also report the same things by word of mouth.

²⁸“For ^ait seemed good to ^bthe Holy Spirit and to ^cus to lay upon you no greater burden than these essentials:

²⁹that you abstain from ^athings sacrificed to idols and from blood and from things strangled and from fornication; ¹if you keep yourselves free from such things, you will do well. Farewell.”

³⁰So when they were sent away, ^athey went down to Antioch; and having gathered the ¹congregation together, they delivered the letter.

³¹When they had read it, they rejoiced because of its ¹encouragement.

^32aJudas and ^bSilas, also being ^cprophets themselves, ¹encouraged and strengthened ^dthe brethren with a lengthy message.

³³After they had spent time there, they were sent away from the brethren ^ain peace to those who had ^bsent them out.

³⁴¹But it seemed good to Silas to remain there.

³⁵But ^aPaul and Barnabas stayed in Antioch, teaching and ^bpreaching with many others also, ^cthe word of the Lord.

Second Missionary Journey

³⁶After some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us return and visit the brethren in ^aevery city in which we proclaimed ^bthe word of the Lord, and see how they are.”

³⁷Barnabas wanted to take ^aJohn, called Mark, along with them also.

³⁸But Paul kept insisting that they should not take him along who had ^adeserted them ¹in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work.

³⁹And there occurred such a sharp disagreement that they separated from one another, and Barnabas took ^aMark with him and sailed away to ^bCyprus.

⁴⁰But Paul chose ^aSilas and left, being ^bcommitted by the brethren to the grace of the Lord.

⁴¹And he was traveling through ^aSyria and ^bCilicia, strengthening the churches.

Chapter 16

The Macedonian Vision

¹Paul came also to ^aDerbe and to Lystra. And a disciple was there, named ^bTimothy, the son of a ^cJewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek,

²and he was well spoken of by ^athe brethren who were in ^bLystra and ^cIconium.

³Paul wanted this man to ¹go with him; and he ^atook him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those parts, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.

⁴Now while they were passing through the cities, they were delivering ^athe decrees which had been decided upon by ^bthe apostles and ^celders who were in Jerusalem, for them to observe.

⁵So ^athe churches were being strengthened ¹in the faith, and were ^bincreasing in number daily.

⁶They passed through the ^1aPhrygian and ^bGalatian region, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in ^2cAsia;

⁷and after they came to ^aMysia, they were trying to go into ^bBithynia, and the ^cSpirit of Jesus did not permit them;

⁸and passing by ^aMysia, they came down to ^bTroas.

^9aA vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of ^bMacedonia was standing and appealing to him, and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.”

¹⁰When he had seen ^athe vision, immediately ^bwe sought to ¹go into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to ^cpreach the gospel to them.

¹¹So putting out to sea from ^aTroas, we ran ^ba straight course to Samothrace, and on the day following to Neapolis;

¹²and from there to ^aPhilippi, which is a leading city of the district of ^bMacedonia, ^ca Roman colony; and we were staying in this city for some days.

¹³And on ^athe Sabbath day we went outside the gate to a riverside, where we were supposing that there would be a place of prayer; and we sat down and began speaking to the women who had assembled.

First Convert in Europe

¹⁴A woman named Lydia, from the city of ^aThyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, ^ba worshiper of God, was listening; ¹and the Lord ^copened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul.

¹⁵And when she and ^aher household had been baptized, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and stay.” And she prevailed upon us.

¹⁶It happened that as we were going to ^athe place of prayer, a slave-girl having ^ba spirit of divination met us, who was bringing her masters much profit by fortune-telling.

¹⁷Following after Paul and us, she kept crying out, saying, “These men are bond-servants of ^athe Most High God, who are proclaiming to you ¹the way of salvation.”

¹⁸She continued doing this for many days. But Paul was greatly annoyed, and turned and said to the spirit, “I command you ^ain the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!” And it came out at that very ¹moment.

¹⁹But when her masters saw that their hope of ^aprofit was ¹gone, they seized ^bPaul and Silas and ^cdragged them into the market place before the authorities,

²⁰and when they had brought them to the chief magistrates, they said, “These men are throwing our city into confusion, being Jews,

²¹and ^aare proclaiming customs which it is not lawful for us to accept or to observe, being ^bRomans.”

Paul and Silas Imprisoned

²²The crowd rose up together against them, and the chief magistrates tore their ¹robes off them and proceeded to order ²them to be ^abeaten with rods.

²³When they had struck them with many blows, they threw them into prison, commanding ^athe jailer to guard them securely;

²⁴¹and he, having received such a command, threw them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in ^athe ²stocks.

²⁵But about midnight ^aPaul and Silas were praying and ^bsinging hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them;

²⁶and suddenly ^athere came a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison house were shaken; and immediately ^ball the doors were opened and everyone’s ^cchains were unfastened.

²⁷When ^athe jailer awoke and saw the prison doors opened, he drew his sword and was about ^bto kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped.

²⁸But Paul cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here!”

²⁹And he called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before ^aPaul and Silas,

³⁰and after he brought them out, he said, “Sirs, ^awhat must I do to be saved?”

The Jailer Converted

³¹They said, “^aBelieve in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and ^byour household.”

³²And they spoke the word of ¹the Lord to him together with all who were in his house.

³³And he took them ^athat very hour of the night and washed their wounds, and immediately he was baptized, he and all his household.

³⁴And he brought them into his house and set ¹food before them, and rejoiced ²greatly, having believed in God with …