Various Laws

²² If someone guilty of a capital offense^(A) is put to death and their body is exposed on a pole, ²³ you must not leave the body hanging on the pole overnight.^(B) Be sure to bury^(C) it that same day, because anyone who is hung on a pole is under God’s curse.^(D) You must not desecrate^(E) the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.

22 If you see your fellow Israelite’s ox or sheep straying, do not ignore it but be sure to take it back to its owner.^{(F) 2} If they do not live near you or if you do not know who owns it, take it home with you and keep it until they come looking for it. Then give it back. ³ Do the same if you find their donkey or cloak or anything else they have lost. Do not ignore it.

⁴ If you see your fellow Israelite’s donkey^(G) or ox fallen on the road, do not ignore it. Help the owner get it to its feet.^(H)

⁵ A woman must not wear men’s clothing, nor a man wear women’s clothing, for the Lord your God detests anyone who does this.

⁶ If you come across a bird’s nest beside the road, either in a tree or on the ground, and the mother is sitting on the young or on the eggs, do not take the mother with the young.^{(I) 7} You may take the young, but be sure to let the mother go,^(J) so that it may go well with you and you may have a long life.^(K)

⁸ When you build a new house, make a parapet around your roof so that you may not bring the guilt of bloodshed on your house if someone falls from the roof.^(L)

The Council at Jerusalem

15 Certain people^(A) came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the believers:^(B) “Unless you are circumcised,^(C) according to the custom taught by Moses,^(D) you cannot be saved.” ² This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them. So Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem^(E) to see the apostles and elders^(F) about this question. ³ The church sent them on their way, and as they traveled through Phoenicia^(G) and Samaria, they told how the Gentiles had been converted.^(H) This news made all the believers very glad. ⁴ When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and elders, to whom they reported everything God had done through them.^(I)

⁵ Then some of the believers who belonged to the party^(J) of the Pharisees^(K) stood up and said, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to keep the law of Moses.”^(L)

⁶ The apostles and elders met to consider this question. ⁷ After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: “Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe.^{(M) 8} God, who knows the heart,^(N) showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them,^(O) just as he did to us. ⁹ He did not discriminate between us and them,^(P) for he purified their hearts by faith.^{(Q) 10} Now then, why do you try to test God^(R) by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke^(S) that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear? ¹¹ No! We believe it is through the grace^(T) of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.”

¹² The whole assembly became silent as they listened to Barnabas and Paul telling about the signs and wonders^(U) God had done among the Gentiles through them.^{(V) 13} When they finished, James^(W) spoke up. “Brothers,” he said, “listen to me. ¹⁴ Simon^[a] has described to us how God first intervened to choose a people for his name from the Gentiles.^{(X) 15} The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written:

¹⁹ “It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. ²⁰ Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols,^(AA) from sexual immorality,^(AB) from the meat of strangled animals and from blood.^{(AC) 21} For the law of Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath.”^(AD)

⁵ If a man has recently married, he must not be sent to war or have any other duty laid on him. For one year he is to be free to stay at home and bring happiness to the wife he has married.^(A)

⁶ Do not take a pair of millstones—not even the upper one—as security for a debt, because that would be taking a person’s livelihood as security.^(B)

⁷ If someone is caught kidnapping a fellow Israelite and treating or selling them as a slave, the kidnapper must die.^(C) You must purge the evil from among you.^(D)

⁸ In cases of defiling skin diseases,^[a] be very careful to do exactly as the Levitical^(E) priests instruct you. You must follow carefully what I have commanded them.^{(F) 9} Remember what the Lord your God did to Miriam along the way after you came out of Egypt.^(G)

¹⁰ When you make a loan of any kind to your neighbor, do not go into their house to get what is offered to you as a pledge.^{(H) 11} Stay outside and let the neighbor to whom you are making the loan bring the pledge out to you. ¹² If the neighbor is poor, do not go to sleep with their pledge^(I) in your possession. ¹³ Return their cloak by sunset^(J) so that your neighbor may sleep in it.^(K) Then they will thank you, and it will be regarded as a righteous act in the sight of the Lord your God.^(L)

¹⁴ Do not take advantage of a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether that worker is a fellow Israelite or a foreigner residing in one of your towns.^{(M) 15} Pay them their wages each day before sunset, because they are poor^(N) and are counting on it.^(O) Otherwise they may cry to the Lord against you, and you will be guilty of sin.^(P)

¹⁶ Parents are not to be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their parents; each will die for their own sin.^(Q)

¹⁷ Do not deprive the foreigner or the fatherless^(R) of justice,^(S) or take the cloak of the widow as a pledge. ¹⁸ Remember that you were slaves in Egypt^(T) and the Lord your God redeemed you from there. That is why I command you to do this.

¹⁹ When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it.^(U) Leave it for the foreigner,^(V) the fatherless and the widow,^(W) so that the Lord your God may bless^(X) you in all the work of your hands. ²⁰ When you beat the olives from your trees, do not go over the branches a second time.^(Y) Leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow. ²¹ When you harvest the grapes in your vineyard, do not go over the vines again. Leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow. ²² Remember that you were slaves in Egypt. That is why I command you to do this.^(Z)

The Council’s Letter to Gentile Believers

²² Then the apostles and elders,^(A) with the whole church, decided to choose some of their own men and send them to Antioch^(B) with Paul and Barnabas. They chose Judas (called Barsabbas) and Silas,^(C) men who were leaders among the believers. ²³ With them they sent the following letter:

³⁰ So the men were sent off and went down to Antioch, where they gathered the church together and delivered the letter. ³¹ The people read it and were glad for its encouraging message. ³² Judas and Silas,^(M) who themselves were prophets,^(N) said much to encourage and strengthen the believers. ³³ After spending some time there, they were sent off by the believers with the blessing of peace^(O) to return to those who had sent them. ^{[34] [a] 35} But Paul and Barnabas remained in Antioch, where they and many others taught and preached^(P) the word of the Lord.^(Q)