Acts 15:7-21

⁷After there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles would hear the word of the gospel and believe. ⁸And God, who knows the heart, testified to them giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He also did to us; ⁹and He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith. ¹⁰Since this is the case, why are you putting God to the test by placing upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our forefathers nor we have been able to bear? ¹¹But we believe that we are saved through the 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 relating all the signs and wonders that God had done through them among the Gentiles.

¹³After they stopped speaking, James responded, saying, “Brothers, listen to me. ¹⁴Simeon has described how God first concerned Himself about taking a people for His name from among the Gentiles. ¹⁵The words of the Prophets agree with this, just as it is written:

16‘After these things I will return,

And I will rebuild the fallen tabernacle of David,

And I will rebuild its ruins,

And I will restore it,

17So that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord,

And all the Gentiles who are called by My name,’

18Says the Lord, who makes these things known from long ago.

¹⁹Therefore, it is my judgment that we do not cause trouble for those from the Gentiles who are turning to God, ²⁰but that we write to them that they abstain from things contaminated by idols, from acts of sexual immorality, from what has been strangled, and from blood. ²¹For from ancient generations Moses has those who preach him in every city, since he is read in the synagogues every Sabbath.”