15 But some men came down from Y’hudah to Antioch and began teaching the brothers, “You can’t be saved unless you undergo b’rit-milah in the manner prescribed by Moshe.” ² This brought them into no small measure of discord and dispute with Sha’ul and Bar-Nabba. So the congregation assigned Sha’ul, Bar-Nabba and some of themselves to go and put this sh’eilah before the emissaries and the elders up in Yerushalayim.

³ After being sent off by the congregation, they made their way through Phoenicia and Shomron, recounting in detail how the Gentiles had turned to God; and this news brought great joy to all the brothers.

⁴ On arrival in Yerushalayim, they were welcomed by the Messianic community, including the emissaries and the elders; and they reported what God had done through them. ⁵ But some of those who had come to trust were from the party of the P’rushim; and they stood up and said, “It is necessary to circumcise them and direct them to observe the Torah of Moshe.”

⁶ The emissaries and the elders met to look into this matter. ⁷ After lengthy debate, Kefa got up and said to them, “Brothers, you yourselves know that a good while back, God chose me from among you to be the one by whose mouth the Goyim should hear the message of the Good News and come to trust. ⁸ And God, who knows the heart, bore them witness by giving the Ruach HaKodesh to them, just as he did to us; ⁹ that is, he made no distinction between us and them, but cleansed their heart by trust. ¹⁰ So why are you putting God to the test now by placing a yoke on the neck of the talmidim which neither our fathers nor we have had the strength to bear? ¹¹ No, it is through the love and kindness of the Lord Yeshua that we trust and are delivered — and it’s the same with them.”

¹² Then the whole assembly kept still as they listened to Bar-Nabba and Sha’ul tell what signs and miracles God had done through them among the Gentiles. ¹³ Ya‘akov broke the silence to reply. “Brothers,” he said, “hear what I have to say. ¹⁴ Shim‘on has told in detail what God did when he first began to show his concern for taking from among the Goyim a people to bear his name. ¹⁵ And the words of the Prophets are in complete harmony with this for it is written,

All this has been known for ages.

¹⁹ “Therefore, my opinion is that we should not put obstacles in the way of the Goyim who are turning to God. ²⁰ Instead, we should write them a letter telling them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from fornication, from what is strangled and from blood. ²¹ For from the earliest times, Moshe has had in every city those who proclaim him, with his words being read in the synagogues every Shabbat.”

²² Then the emissaries and the elders, together with the whole Messianic community, decided to select men from among themselves to send to Antioch with Sha’ul and Bar-Nabba. They sent Y’hudah, called Bar-Sabba, and Sila, both leading men among the brothers, ²³ with the following letter:

From: The emissaries and the elders, your brothers

To: The brothers from among the Gentiles throughout Antioch, Syria and Cilicia

Greetings!

Shalom!

³⁰ The messengers were sent off and went to Antioch, where they gathered the group together and delivered the letter. ³¹ After reading it, the people were delighted by its encouragement. ³² Y’hudah and Sila, who were also prophets, said much to encourage and strengthen the brothers. ³³ After they had spent some time there, they were sent off with a greeting of “Shalom!” from the brothers to those who had sent them. ^{34 [b] 35} But Sha’ul and Bar-Nabba stayed in Antioch, where they and many others taught and proclaimed the Good News of the message about the Lord.

³⁶ After some time, Sha’ul said to Bar-Nabba, “Let’s go back and visit the brothers in all the towns where we proclaimed the message about the Lord, and see how they’re doing.” ³⁷ Now Bar-Nabba wanted to take with them Yochanan, the one called Mark. ³⁸ But Sha’ul thought it would be unwise to take this man with them, since he had gone off and left them in Pamphylia to do the work by themselves. ³⁹ There was such sharp disagreement over this that they separated from each other, with Bar-Nabba taking Mark and sailing off to Cyprus.

⁴⁰ However, Sha’ul chose Sila and left, after the brothers had committed him to the love and kindness of the Lord. ⁴¹ He went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the congregations.