And when they had fallen silent, James answered, saying: Men and brothers, listen to me. Simon has told how the Lord was first concerned to accept a people in his name from among the Gentiles. And the words of the prophets accord with this; as it is written: After this I will return, and I will rebuild the fallen tabernacle of David and restore its ruins and raise it up again, so that the rest of mankind may seek out the Lord, and all the nations to whom my name has been spoken. Thus says the Lord, making all this known, since eternity.
Therefore I believe we should not make difficulties for those of the Gentiles who t^ra to God, but instruct them to abstain from the pollution of idols, and from lechery, and from what has been strangled, and from blood. For Moses has had since ancient generations those who preach him in every city, and he is read in the synagogues every sabbath.
Then the apostles and elders, together with the whole church, resolved to send men picked from among them to Antioch along with Paul and Barnabas. They were Judas, surnamed Barsabbas, and Silas, prominent men among the brothers. And they wrote a letter, for them to deliver by hand, saying: The apostles and elders, brothers, to the Gentile brothers in Antioch and Syria and Cil- icia; greetings. Since we have heard that some of us have disturbed and distracted your minds by their words, without instructions from us, we have unanimously resolved to select two men and send them to you together with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men who have risked their lives for the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have sent, then, Judas and Silas, who will give you the same message by word of mouth. It seemed best to the Holy Spirit, and to us, not to burden you with any commandments except these, which are fundamentaclass="underline" to abstain from idol offerings, and blood, and what has been strangled, and lechery. If you keep yourselves from these, you will be acceptable. Farewell.
So they were sent on their way and went down to Antioch, and they assembled the congregation and delivered the letter; and when they read it they rejoiced over the advice. And Judas and Silas, who were themselves also prophets, talked much with them and advised and strengthened the brothers; and after staying some time they went in peace from these brothers to those who had sent them. But Paul and Barnabas stayed on in Antioch, teaching and, with many others, carrying the gospel of the word of the Lord.
Then after some days Paul said to Barnabas: Let us return and visit our brothers in every city in which we preached the word of the Lord, to see how they are faring. Barnabas wished to take John Mark along; but Paul thought it would be wrong to take that man who had deserted them in Pamphylia and not gone on with them to their work. And some bitterness arose, so that they separated from each other, and Barnabas sailed for Cyprus, taking Mark with him. But Paul chose Silas and left, commended to the grace of the Lord by the brothers, and journeyed through Syria and Cilicia strengthening the churches.
1 He also visited Derbe and Lystra. And behold, there was a disciple there named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman believer and a Greek father, and he was recommended by the brothers in Lystra and Iconium. And Paul wished to have him travel with him, and he took him and circumcised him, on account of the Jews who were in those parts, since all knew that his father was a Greek. And as they journeyed through the cities, they delivered to the people the commandments decreed by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem, for them to obey. And the churches were strengthened in their faith and grew in number day by day.
They passed through Phrygia and the Galatian territory, being prevented by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in Asia; and going by Mysia they tried to go on to Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not let them; and passing by Mysia they landed at Troas. And a vision appeared in the night to Paul; a Macedonian man was standing there inviting him and saying: Cross over into Macedonia and come to our aid. And when he had seen the vision, we sought to go to Macedonia, concluding that God had invited us to bring the gospel to those people.
So sailing from Troas we ran a straight course to Sa- mothrace, and on the next day to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi, which is the first city in the district of Macedonia, a colony. We spent some days in this city. And on the day of the sabbath we went outside the gate beside the river where we thought there was a place of prayer, and we sat down and talked to the women who gathered there. And one woman named Lydia, a seller of purple cloth, from the city of Thyatira, one who worshipped God, listened, and the Lord opened her heart to receive what was said by Paul. And when she and her household had been baptized, she invited us, saying: If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and stay with me. And she made us do so.
And it happened that as we were on our way to the place of prayer, we encountered a maidservant who possessed a spirit of prophecy; she made a great deal of money for her masters by her divining; and she followed Paul and the rest of us and cried aloud, saying: These people are slaves of the highest God, and they announce to you the way of salvation. She did this for many days. But Paul was annoyed and turned on the spirit and said: I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to go forth from her. And it went forth in that same hour. But when her masters saw that their hope for profit was gone, they seized on Paul and Silas and dragged them into the market place before the authorities, and led them up to the chief magistrates and said: These people, who are Jews, are upsetting our city and preaching usages which we, who are Romans, cannot accept. And the mob joined in the attack against them, and the chief magistrates tore the men's clothing to pieces and ordered them to be beaten, and after inflicting many blows they threw them in prison, ordering the warden to keep them under close guard; and he on receiving such an order threw them into the innermost part of the prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. But in the middle of the night Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them; and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken, and all the doors came open, and the chains fell off all of them. The warden woke up, and when he saw that the doors of the prison were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, believing that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul called out in a great voice, saying: Do not do yourself an injury, for we are all here. And the man called for a light and leaped inside, and threw himself down trembling before Paul and Silas, then led them outside and said: Lords, what must I do to be saved? And they said: Believe in the Lord Jesus and you and your household will be saved.
And they preached the word of God to him, with all who were in his house; and he took them at that hour of the night and washed their wounds, and he himself and all who were in his house were baptized on the spot; and he took them into his house and set a table before them, and rejoiced with all his household that he had come to believe in God.
When day came the chief magistrates sent their lie- tors, saying: Release those men. The warden brought the message to Paul, to this effect: The chief magistrates have sent to have you released; so now come out and go on your way in peace. But Paul said to them: After lashing us publicly without trial, us who are Roman citizens, they threw us in prison. And now they are putting us out secretly? Not so; let them come themselves and conduct us out. The lictors reported these words to the chief magistrates; and they were frightened when they heard that they were Romans, and carne and apologized and conducted them out and asked them to leave the city. And they left the prison and went to Lydia's house; and they saw the brothers and encouraged them and left.