1 Then certain men who came down from Judaea taught the brethren and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved. 2 When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain other of them should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question. 3 And they, being accompanied by some from the congregation {Gr. ekklesia – called out ones}, passed through Phenice and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles, and they caused great joy unto all the brethren. 4 And when they were come to Jerusalem, they were received by the congregation {Gr. ekklesia – called out ones} and by the apostles and elders, and they declared all the things that God had done with them. 5 But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees who had believed, saying, That it was needful to circumcise them and to command them to keep the law of Moses.
6 And the apostles and elders came together to consider of this matter. 7 And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up and said unto them, Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God chose that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel and believe. 8 And God, who knows the hearts, bore them witness, giving them the Holy Spirit, even as he did unto us, 9 and put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. 10 Now therefore why tempt ye God, putting a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? 11 For we believe that through 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, declaring what great miracles and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by them. 13 And after they had become silent, James answered, saying, Men and brethren, hearken unto me: 14 Simeon has declared how God first visited the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name. 15 And to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written,
16 After this I will return and will restore the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will repair its ruins, and I will set it up again, 17 that the men that are left might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who does all these things. 18 Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.
19 Therefore my sentence is that those from among the Gentiles who are converted to God not be troubled, 20 but that we write unto them that they abstain from pollutions of idols and from fornication and from things strangled and from blood. 21 For Moses of old time has in every city those that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath day.