Acts 15:12–22

¹²The whole assembly kept silence and listened to Barnabas and Paul as they told of all the signs and wonders that God had done through them among the gentiles.^{* 13}After they finished speaking, James replied, “My brothers,^b listen to me.^{* 14}Simeon has related how God first looked favorably on the gentiles, to take from among them a people for his name. ¹⁵This agrees with the words of the prophets, as it is written,

¹⁶‘After this I will return,

and I will rebuild the dwelling of David, which has fallen;

from its ruins I will rebuild it,

and I will set it up,^*

¹⁷so that all other peoples may seek the Lord—

even all the gentiles over whom my name has been called.

Thus says the Lord, who has been making these things ¹⁸known from long ago.’^c

¹⁹“Therefore I have reached the decision that we should not trouble those gentiles who are turning to God, ²⁰but we should write to them to abstain only from things polluted by idols and from sexual immorality and from whatever has been strangled^d and from blood.^{* 21}For in every city, for generations past, Moses has had those who proclaim him, for he has been read aloud every Sabbath in the synagogues.”^*

The Council’s Letter to Gentile Believers

²²Then the apostles and the elders, with the consent of the whole church, decided to choose men from among them and to send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They sent Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, leaders among the brothers,