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New Testament Reading - The Council of Jerusalem

¹²There was no further discussion, and everyone now listened as Barnabas and Paul told about the miracles God had done through them among the Gentiles.

¹³When they had finished, James took the floor. “Brothers,” he said, “listen to me. ¹⁴Peter has told you about the time God first visited the Gentiles to take from them a people to bring honor to his name. ¹⁵ And this fact of Gentile conversion agrees with what the prophets predicted. For instance, listen to this passage from the prophet Amos:^a

¹⁶‘Afterwards’ (says the Lord),^b ‘I will return and renew the broken contract with David,* ¹⁷so that Gentiles, too, will find the Lord — all those marked with my name.’

¹⁸That is what the Lord says, who reveals his plans made from the beginning.

¹⁹“And so my judgment is that we should not insist that the Gentiles who turn to God must obey our Jewish laws, ²⁰except that we should write to them to refrain from eating meat sacrificed to idols, from all fornication, and also from eating unbled meat of strangled animals. ²¹For these things have been preached against in Jewish synagogues in every city on every Sabbath for many generations.”

²²Then the apostles and elders and the whole congregation voted to send delegates to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas, to report on this decision. The men chosen were two of the church leaders — Judas (also called Barsabbas) and Silas.