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When they finished, James spoke up. āBrothers,ā he said, ālisten to me.
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Simon has described to us how God first intervened to choose a people for his name from the Gentiles.
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The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written:
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ā āAfter this I will return and rebuild Davidās fallen tent. Its ruins I will rebuild, and I will restore it,
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that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, even all the Gentiles who bear my name, says the Lord, who does these thingsā ā
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things known from long ago.
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āIt is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God.
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Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood.
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For the law of Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath.ā