Acts 15-18

21st Century King James Version

15 And certain men who came down from Judea taught the brethren and said, “Unless 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 others of them should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question.

³ And being sent on their way by the church, they passed through Phoenicia and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles; and they caused great joy unto all the brethren.

⁴ And when they had come to Jerusalem, they were received by the church and by the apostles and elders, and they declared all things that God had done with them.

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

⁶ And the apostles and the elders came together to consider 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 made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the Word of the Gospel and believe.

⁸ And God, who knoweth the hearts, bore them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost 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 to put a yoke upon the necks of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?

¹¹ But 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 as they declared what miracles and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by them.

¹³ And after they had held their peace, James answered, saying, “Men and brethren, hearken unto me.

¹⁴ Simon hath declared how God at the first visited the Gentiles to take out from 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 build again the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down. And I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up,

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.’

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

¹⁹ Therefore my judgment is that we trouble not those from among the Gentiles who are turned to God,

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 from olden times hath in every city those who preach him, he being read in the synagogues every Sabbath day.”

²² Then it pleased the apostles and elders, together with the whole church, to send men chosen from their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas, namely Judas surnamed Barsabbas, and Silas, chief men among the brethren.

²³ And they wrote letters to accompany them in this manner: “The apostles and elders and brethren send greetings unto the brethren who are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia:

²⁴ Inasmuch 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 who 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 Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things:

²⁹ that ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication. If ye keep yourselves from these things, ye shall do well. Fare ye well!”

³⁰ So when they were sent off, they went to Antioch. And when they had gathered the multitude together, they delivered the epistle;

³¹ and when they had read it, they rejoiced in its consolation.

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

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

³⁴ Notwithstanding, it pleased Silas to remain there still.

³⁵ Paul and Barnabas continued in Antioch, teaching and preaching the Word of the Lord, with many others also.

³⁶ And some days later, 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, as he had departed from them in Pamphylia, and had not gone with them in the work.

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

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

⁴¹ And he went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.

16 Then Paul came to Derbe and Lystra. And behold, a certain disciple was there named Timothy, the son of a certain woman who was a Jewess who believed, but whose father was a Greek.

² He was well reported of by the brethren who were at Lystra and Iconium.

³ Him Paul wanted to have 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 delivered unto them the decrees to keep, that had been ordained by the apostles and elders who were at Jerusalem.

⁵ And so were the churches established in the faith, and increased in number daily.

⁶ Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Ghost to preach the Word in Asia.

⁷ After they had come to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit suffered permit not.

⁸ And passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas.

⁹ And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: there stood a man of Macedonia beseeching him, saying, “Come over into Macedonia and help us.”

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

¹¹ Therefore casting loose from Troas we made a straight course to Samothrace, and the next day Neapolis,

¹² and from thence to Philippi, which is the chief city of that part of Macedonia, and a colony. And we stayed in that city a number of days.

¹³ And on the Sabbath, we went out of the city by a riverside where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down and spoke unto the women who resorted thither.

¹⁴ And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, who worshiped God, heard us; and the Lord opened her heart to give heed 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 by a spirit of divination met us. She had brought her masters much gain by soothsaying.

¹⁷ The same followed Paul and us, crying out and saying, “These men are the servants of the Most High God, who show unto us the way of salvation.”

¹⁸ And this she did 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 that same hour.

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

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

²¹ and teach customs which are not lawful for us to receive nor to observe, being Romans.”

²² And the multitude rose up together against them, and the magistrates rent off their clothes and commanded that they be beaten.

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

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

²⁵ And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises unto God, and the prisoners heard them.

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

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

²⁸ But Paul cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Do thyself no harm, for we are all here!”

²⁹ Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling and fell down before Paul and Silas,

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

³¹ And they said, “Believe in 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 who were in his house.

³³ And he took them that 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 meat 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 told these words to Paul, saying, “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 privily? Nay verily! Let them come themselves and fetch us out.”

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

³⁹ And they came and besought them and brought them out, and entreated them to depart out of the city.

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

17 Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica where there was a synagogue of the Jews.

² And Paul, as was his custom, went in unto them, and for three Sabbath days reasoned with them from the Scriptures,

³ expounding and alleging that it was necessary for Christ to have suffered and risen again from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus whom I preach unto you is Christ.”

⁴ And some of them believed, and joined themselves with Paul and Silas, as did a great multitude of the devout Greeks, and of the chief women not a few.

⁵ But the Jews who believed not, moved with envy, engaged certain wicked fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a crowd and set all the city in an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason and sought to bring them out to the people.

⁶ And when they found them not, they dragged Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, “These that have turned the world upside down have come hither also,

⁷ and Jason hath received them; and they all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus.”

⁸ And they troubled the people and the rulers of the city when they heard these things.

⁹ And when they had taken security from Jason and the others, they let them go.

¹⁰ And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea, who arriving there, went into the synagogue of the Jews.

¹¹ These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the Word with allreadiness of mind and searched the Scriptures daily to see whether those things were so.

¹² Therefore many of them believed, also honorable women who were Greeks, and of men not a few.

¹³ But when the Jews of Thessalonica became aware that the Word of God was preached by Paul at Berea, they came there also and stirred up the people.

¹⁴ And then immediately the brethren sent away Paul to go down to the sea, but Silas and Timothy remained there still.

¹⁵ And those who conducted Paul brought him unto Athens and, having received direction for Silas and Timothy to come to him with all speed, they departed.

¹⁶ Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred within him when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry.

¹⁷ Therefore he disputed in the synagogue with the Jews, and with the devout persons, and in the marketplace daily with those who met with him.

¹⁸ Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans and of the Stoics encountered him. And some said, “What will this babbler say?” And some others said, “He seemeth to be a proclaimer of strange gods,” because he preached unto them Jesus and the resurrection.

¹⁹ And they took him and brought him unto the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new doctrine is whereof thou speakest?

²⁰ For thou bringest certain strange things to our ears, and we would know therefore what these things mean.”

²¹ (For all the Athenians and strangers who were there spent their time in nothing else than either telling or hearing some new thing.)

²² Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars’ Hill and said, “Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious.

²³ For as I passed by and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription: ‘To the Unknown God’. Whom therefore ye worship in ignorance, Him I declare unto you.

²⁴ God who made the world and all things therein, seeing that He is Lord of Heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands.

²⁵ Neither is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, seeing He giveth to all life, and breath, and all things.

²⁶ And He hath made of one blood all nations of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation,

²⁷ that they should seek the Lord, if perhaps they might feel after Him and find Him, though He be not far from every one of us.

²⁸ For in Him we live, and move, and have our being; as also certain of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’

²⁹ “For inasmuch, then, as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold or silver or stone, graven by art and of man’s devising.

³⁰ The times of this ignorance God overlooked, but now He commandeth all men everywhere to repent,

³¹ because He hath appointed a Day in which He will judge the world in righteousness by that Man whom He hath ordained. Of this He hath given assurance unto all men, in that He hath raised Him from the dead.”

³² But when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked and others said, “We will hear thee again on this matter.”

³³ So Paul departed from among them.

³⁴ However, certain men cleaved unto him and believed, among whom were Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.

18 After these things, Paul departed from Athens and came to Corinth.

² There he found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus and lately come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome. Paul went unto them,

³ and because he was of the same craft, he lodged with them and worked; for by their occupation they were tentmakers.

⁴ And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks.

⁵ And when Silas and Timothy had come from Macedonia, Paul was pressed in the spirit, and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ.

⁶ But when they opposed themselves and blasphemed, he shook his raiment and said unto them, “Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean. From henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles.”

⁷ And he departed thence and entered into a certain man’s house named Justus, one who worshiped God and whose house was adjoining the synagogue.

⁸ And Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, with all his house. And many of the Corinthians, hearing, believed and were baptized.

⁹ Then the Lord spoke to Paul in the night through a vision, saying, “Be not afraid, but speak and hold not thy peace.

¹⁰ For I am with thee, and no man shall set upon thee to hurt thee, for I have many people in this city.”

¹¹ And he continued there a year and six months, teaching the Word of God among them.

¹² And when Gallio was deputy of Achaia, the Jews with one accord began an insurrection against Paul, and brought him to the judgment seat,

¹³ saying, “This fellow persuadeth men to worship God contrary to the law.”

¹⁴ And when Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said unto the Jews, “If it were a matter of wrong or wicked lewdness, O ye Jews, reason would have it that I should bear with you.

¹⁵ But if it be a question of words and names and your own law, look ye to it; for I will not be judge of such matters.”

¹⁶ And he drove them from the judgment seat.

¹⁷ Then all the Greeks took Sosthenes, the chief ruler of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the judgment seat. But Gallio was concerned about none of those things.

¹⁸ And Paul after this tarried there yet a good while, and then took his leave of the brethren and sailed thence into Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila, having shorn his head at Cenchrea, for he had made a vow.

¹⁹ And he came to Ephesus and left them there, but he himself entered into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews.

²⁰ When they desired him to tarry a longer time with them, he consented not,

²¹ but bade them farewell, saying, “I must by all means keep this feast that cometh in Jerusalem, but I will return again unto you, if God wills.” And he sailed from Ephesus.

²² And when he had landed at Caesarea and had gone up and saluted the church, he went down to Antioch.

²³ And after he had spent some time there, he departed and went through all the country of Galatia and Phrygia in order, strengthening all the disciples.

²⁴ And a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man and mighty in the Scriptures, came to Ephesus.

²⁵ This man was instructed in the Way of the Lord; and being fervent in the Spirit, he spoke and taught diligently the things of the Lord, though he knew only the baptism of John.

²⁶ And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Aquila and Priscilla had heard him, they took him unto them and expounded unto him the Way of God more perfectly.

²⁷ And when he was disposed to pass into Achaia, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him. And when he had come, he helped them much who had believed through grace;

²⁸ for he mightily refuted the Jews (and that publicly), showing by the Scriptures that Jesus was Christ.