13When they had finished, James stood and said, “Brothers, listen to me. 14Peter*15:14 Greek Simeon. has told you about the time God first visited the Gentiles to take from them a people for himself. 15And this conversion of Gentiles is exactly what the prophets predicted. As it is written:

16‘Afterward I will return

and restore the fallen house*15:16 Or kingdom; Greek reads tent. of David.

I will rebuild its ruins

and restore it,

17so that the rest of humanity might seek the Lord,

including the Gentiles—

all those I have called to be mine.

The Lord has spoken—

18he who made these things known so long ago.’*15:16-18 Amos 9:11-12 (Greek version); Isa 45:21.

19“And so my judgment is that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. 20Instead, we should write and tell them to abstain from eating food offered to idols, from sexual immorality, from eating the meat of strangled animals, and from consuming blood. 21For these laws of Moses have been preached in Jewish synagogues in every city on every Sabbath for many generations.”

The Letter for Gentile Believers

22Then the apostles and elders together with the whole church in Jerusalem chose delegates, and they sent them to Antioch of Syria with Paul and Barnabas to report on this decision. The men chosen were two of the church leaders*15:22 Greek were leaders among the brothers.—Judas (also called Barsabbas) and Silas.