Acts 15:7-19
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
7 After there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “My brothers,[a] you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that I should be the one through whom the gentiles would hear the message of the good news and become believers.(A) 8 And God, who knows the human heart, testified to them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us,(B) 9 and in cleansing their hearts by faith he has made no distinction between them and us.(C) 10 Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing on the neck of the disciples a yoke that neither our ancestors nor we have been able to bear?(D) 11 On the contrary, we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.”(E)
12 The whole assembly kept silence and listened to Barnabas and Paul as they told of all the signs and wonders that God had done through them among the gentiles.(F) 13 After they finished speaking, James replied, “My brothers,[b] listen to me.(G) 14 Simeon has related how God first looked favorably on the gentiles, to take from among them a people for his name. 15 This agrees with the words of the prophets, as it is written,
16 ‘After this I will return,
and I will rebuild the dwelling of David, which has fallen;
from its ruins I will rebuild it,
and I will set it up,(H)
17 so that all other peoples may seek the Lord—
even all the gentiles over whom my name has been called.
Thus says the Lord, who has been making these things 18 known from long ago.’[c]
19 “Therefore I have reached the decision that we should not trouble those gentiles who are turning to God,
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