¹⁷ He motioned for them to quiet down and told them how the Lord had led him out of prison. “Tell James and the other brothers what happened,” he said. And then he went to another place.

⁴⁰ The commander agreed, so Paul stood on the stairs and motioned to the people to be quiet. Soon a deep silence enveloped the crowd, and he addressed them in their own language, Aramaic.^[a]

³³ The Jews in the crowd pushed Alexander forward and told him to explain the situation. He motioned for silence and tried to speak.

¹⁶ So Paul stood, lifted his hand to quiet them, and started speaking. “Men of Israel,” he said, “and you God-fearing Gentiles, listen to me.

¹⁸ The next day Paul went with us to meet with James, and all the elders of the Jerusalem church were present.

¹³ When they had finished, James stood and said, “Brothers, listen to me.

¹² When he first arrived, he ate with the Gentile believers, who were not circumcised. But afterward, when some friends of James came, Peter wouldn’t eat with the Gentiles anymore. He was afraid of criticism from these people who insisted on the necessity of circumcision.

⁹ In fact, James, Peter,^[a] and John, who were known as pillars of the church, recognized the gift God had given me, and they accepted Barnabas and me as their co-workers. They encouraged us to keep preaching to the Gentiles, while they continued their work with the Jews.

¹⁹ The only other apostle I met at that time was James, the Lord’s brother.

⁷ Then he was seen by James and later by all the apostles.