Acts 15:5-21
The Council at Jerusalem
5 But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying, That it was needful to circumcise them, and to command [them] to keep the law of Moses.
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6 And the apostles and elders came together for to consider of this matter.
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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 made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe.
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8 And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as [he did] unto us;
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9 And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.
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10 Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?
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11 But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they.
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12 Then all the multitude kept silence, and gave audience to Barnabas and Paul, declaring what miracles and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by them.
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13 And after they had held their peace, James answered, saying, Men [and] brethren, hearken unto me:
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14 Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name.
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15 And to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written,
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16 After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up:
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17 That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things.
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18 Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.
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19 Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God:
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20 But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and [from] fornication, and [from] things strangled, and [from] blood.
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21 For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath day.
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