Chronological

15 ¶ Then certain men who came down from Judaea taught the brethren and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved.

² When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain other of them should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question.

³ And they, being accompanied by some from the congregation, {Gr. ekklesia – called out ones} passed through Phenice and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles, and they caused great joy unto all the brethren.

⁴ And when they were come to Jerusalem, they were received by the congregation {Gr. ekklesia – called out ones} and by the apostles and elders, and they declared all the things that God had done with them.

⁵ But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees who had believed, saying, That it was needful to circumcise them and to command them to keep the law of Moses.

⁶ ¶ And the apostles and elders came together to consider of this matter.

⁷ And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up and said unto them, Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God chose that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel and believe.

⁸ And God, who knows the hearts, bore them witness, giving them the Holy Spirit, even as he did unto us,

⁹ and put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.

¹⁰ Now therefore why tempt ye God, putting a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?

¹¹ For we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they.

¹² Then all the multitude kept silence and gave audience to Barnabas and Paul, declaring what great miracles and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by them.

¹³ And after they had become silent, James answered, saying, Men and brethren, hearken unto me:

¹⁴ Simeon has declared how God first visited the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name.

¹⁵ And to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written,

¹⁶ After this I will return and will restore the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will repair its ruins, and I will set it up again,

¹⁷ that the men that are left might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who does all these things.

¹⁸ Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.

¹⁹ Therefore my sentence is that those from among the Gentiles who are converted to God not be troubled,

²⁰ but that we write unto them that they abstain from pollutions of idols and from fornication and from things strangled and from blood.

²¹ For Moses of old time has in every city those that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath day.

²² ¶ Then it pleased the apostles and elders, with the whole congregation, {Gr. ekklesia – called out ones} to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas; namely, Judas surnamed Barsabas and Silas, principal men among the brethren;

²³ and they wrote letters by them after this manner: The apostles and elders and brethren send greeting unto the brethren who are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia;

²⁴ forasmuch as we have heard that certain ones who went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised and keep the law, to whom we gave no such commandment,

²⁵ it seemed good unto us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men unto you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul,

²⁶ men that have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

²⁷ We have sent therefore Judas and Silas, who shall also tell you the same things by mouth.

²⁸ For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things:

²⁹ that ye abstain from foods offered to idols and from blood and from things strangled and from fornication; from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well.

³⁰ So when they were dismissed, they came to Antioch; and when they had gathered the multitude together, they delivered the epistle,

³¹ which when they had read, they rejoiced for the consolation.

³² And Judas and Silas, being prophets also themselves, exhorted the brethren with many words and confirmed them.

³³ And after they had tarried there a space, they were let go in peace from the brethren unto the apostles.

³⁴ Notwithstanding it pleased Silas to abide there still.

³⁵ Paul also and Barnabas continued in Antioch, teaching the word of the Lord and announcing the gospel, with many others also.

³⁶ ¶ And some days after, Paul said unto Barnabas, Let us go again and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord and see how they do.

³⁷ And Barnabas determined to take with them John, whose surname was Mark.

³⁸ But Paul thought it not good to take him with them, who departed from them from Pamphylia and did not go with them to the work.

³⁹ And the contention was so sharp between them that they departed asunder one from the other, and so Barnabas took Mark and sailed unto Cyprus;

⁴⁰ and Paul chose Silas and departed, being recommended by the brethren unto the grace of God.

⁴¹ And he went through Syria and Cilicia, confirming the congregations. {Gr. ekklesia – called out ones}

16 ¶ Then he came to Derbe and Lystra; and, behold, a certain disciple was there named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman, who was faithful, but his father was a Gentile,

² of whom the brethren that were at Lystra and Iconium gave good witness.

³ Paul desired to have him go forth with him and took and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those quarters, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.

⁴ And as they went through the cities, they asked them to keep the decrees that had been determined by the apostles and elders who were at Jerusalem.

⁵ And so the congregations {Gr. ekklesia – called out ones} were established in the faith and increased in number daily.

⁶ ¶ Now passing through Phrygia and the region of Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia;

⁷ after they were come to Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit suffered them not.

⁸ And they passing by Mysia came down to Troas.

⁹ And a vision was shown to Paul in the night: There stood a man of Macedonia, asking him, saying, Come over into Macedonia and help us.

¹⁰ And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavoured to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel unto them.

¹¹ Therefore loosing from Troas, we came with a straight course to Samothracia, and the next day to Neapolis,

¹² and from there to Philippi, which is the chief city of that part of Macedonia, and a colony; and we were in that city abiding certain days.

¹³ And on one of the sabbaths we went out of the city by a river side, where it was customary to pray; and we sat down and spoke unto the women who gathered there.

¹⁴ Then a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, who feared God, heard us, whose heart the Lord opened that she attended unto the things which were spoken by Paul.

¹⁵ And when she was baptized, with her household, she besought us, saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and abide there. And she constrained us.

¹⁶ ¶ And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a Pythian spirit met us, which brought her masters much gain by divination:

¹⁷ she followed Paul and us and cried out, saying, These men are the slaves of the most high God, who announce unto us the way of deliverance.

¹⁸ And she did this for many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour.

¹⁹ And when her masters saw that the hope of their gains was gone, they caught Paul and Silas and drew them into the marketplace unto the rulers

²⁰ and brought them to the magistrates, saying, These men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city

²¹ and teach rites which are not lawful for us to receive neither to observe, being Romans.

²² And the multitude rose up together against them, and the magistrates rent off their clothes and commanded to beat them.

²³ And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely,

²⁴ who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison and made their feet fast in the stocks.

²⁵ ¶ But at midnight as Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises unto God, and the prisoners heard them,

²⁶ then suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one’s bands were loosed.

²⁷ And the keeper of the prison, awaking out of his sleep and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had fled.

²⁸ But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm, for we are all here.

²⁹ Then he called for a light and came inside and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas

³⁰ and brought them out and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?

³¹ And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.

³² And they spoke unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house.

³³ And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes and was baptized, he and all his, straightway.

³⁴ And when he had brought them into his house, he set food before them and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house.

³⁵ ¶ And when it was day, the magistrates sent the sergeants, saying, Let those men go.

³⁶ And the keeper of the prison made these words known unto Paul, The magistrates have sent to let you go; now therefore depart and go in peace.

³⁷ But Paul said unto them, They have beaten us openly uncondemned, being Romans, and have cast us into prison; and now do they thrust us out in secret? no indeed; but let them come themselves and fetch us out.

³⁸ And the sergeants returned and told these words unto the magistrates; and they feared when they heard that they were Romans.

³⁹ And they came and besought them, and bringing them out, asked them to depart out of the city.

⁴⁰ And leaving the prison, they entered into the house of Lydia; and when they had seen the brethren, they comforted them and departed.