Acts 15:7-11; Acts 15:13-21

Acts 15:7-11

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 made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the Word of the Gospel and believe.

8 And God, who knoweth the hearts, bore them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost 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 to put a yoke upon the necks of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?

11 But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they."

Acts 15:13-21

13 And after they had held their peace, James answered, saying, "Men and brethren, hearken unto me.

14 Simon hath declared how God at the first visited the Gentiles to take out from 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 build again the tabernacle of David, which has 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 from the beginning of the world.

19 Therefore my judgment is that we trouble not those from among the Gentiles who are turned to God,

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 from olden times hath in every city those who preach him, he being read in the synagogues every Sabbath day."