Acts 15-16

Easy-to-Read Version

The Meeting at Jerusalem

15 Then some men came to Antioch from Judea and began teaching the non-Jewish believers: “You cannot be saved if you are not circumcised as Moses taught us.” ² Paul and Barnabas were against this teaching and argued with these men about it. So the group decided to send Paul, Barnabas, and some others to Jerusalem to talk more about this with the apostles and elders.

³ The church helped them get ready to leave on their trip. The men went through the countries of Phoenicia and Samaria, where they told all about how the non-Jewish people had turned to the true God. This made all the believers very happy. ⁴ When the men arrived in Jerusalem, the apostles, the elders, and the whole church welcomed them. Paul, Barnabas, and the others told about all that God had done with them. ⁵ Some of the believers in Jerusalem had belonged to the Pharisees. They stood up and said, “The non-Jewish believers must be circumcised. We must tell them to obey the Law of Moses!”

⁶ Then the apostles and the elders gathered to study this problem. ⁷ After a long debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “My brothers, I am sure you remember what happened in the early days. God chose me from among you to tell the Good News to those who are not Jewish. It was from me that they heard the Good News and believed. ⁸ God knows everyone, even their thoughts, and he accepted these non-Jewish people. He showed this to us by giving them the Holy Spirit the same as he did to us. ⁹ To God, those people are not different from us. When they believed, God made their hearts pure. ¹⁰ So now, why are you putting a heavy burden^[a] around the necks of the non-Jewish followers of Jesus? Are you trying to make God angry? We and our fathers were not able to carry that burden. ¹¹ No, we believe that we and these people will be saved the same way—by the grace of the Lord Jesus.”

¹² Then the whole group became quiet. They listened while Paul and Barnabas told about all the miraculous signs and wonders that God had done through them among the non-Jewish people. ¹³ When they finished speaking, James said, “My brothers, listen to me. ¹⁴ Simon Peter has told us how God showed his love for the non-Jewish people. For the first time, God accepted them and made them his people. ¹⁵ The words of the prophets agree with this too:

¹⁹ “So I think we should not make things hard for those who have turned to God from among the non-Jewish people. ²⁰ Instead, we should send a letter telling them only the things they should not do:

²¹ They should not do any of these things, because there are still men in every city who teach the Law of Moses. The words of Moses have been read in the synagogue every Sabbath day for many years.”

The Letter to the Non-Jewish Believers

²² The apostles, the elders, and the whole church wanted to send some men with Paul and Barnabas to Antioch. The group decided to choose some of their own men. They chose Judas (also called Barsabbas) and Silas, men who were respected by the believers. ²³ The group sent the letter with these men. The letter said:

From the apostles and elders, your brothers,

To all the non-Jewish brothers in the city of Antioch and in the countries of Syria and Cilicia.

Dear Brothers:

If you stay away from these, you will do well.

We say goodbye now.

³⁰ So Paul, Barnabas, Judas, and Silas left Jerusalem and went to Antioch. There they gathered the group of believers together and gave them the letter. ³¹ When the believers read it, they were happy. The letter comforted them. ³² Judas and Silas, who were also prophets, said many things to encourage the believers and make them stronger in their faith. ³³ After Judas and Silas stayed there for a while, they left. They received a blessing of peace from the believers. Then they went back to those who had sent them. ^34 [c]

³⁵ But Paul and Barnabas stayed in Antioch. They and many others taught the believers and told other people the Good News about the Lord.

Paul and Barnabas Separate

³⁶ A few days later, Paul said to Barnabas, “We should go back to all the towns where we told people the message of the Lord. We should visit the believers to see how they are doing.”

³⁷ Barnabas wanted to bring John Mark with them too. ³⁸ But on their first trip John Mark did not continue with them in the work. He had left them at Pamphylia. So Paul did not think it was a good idea to take him this time. ³⁹ Paul and Barnabas had a big argument about this. It was so bad that they separated and went different ways. Barnabas sailed to Cyprus and took Mark with him.

⁴⁰ Paul chose Silas to go with him. The believers in Antioch put Paul into the Lord’s care and sent him out. ⁴¹ Paul and Silas went through the countries of Syria and Cilicia, helping the churches grow stronger.

Timothy Goes With Paul and Silas

16 Paul went to the city of Derbe and then to Lystra, where a follower of Jesus named Timothy lived. Timothy’s mother was a Jewish believer, but his father was a Greek. ² The believers in the cities of Lystra and Iconium had only good things to say about him. ³ Paul wanted Timothy to travel with him, but all the Jews living in that area knew that his father was a Greek. So Paul circumcised Timothy to please the Jews.

⁴ Then Paul and those with him traveled through other cities. They gave the believers the rules and decisions from the apostles and elders in Jerusalem. They told them to obey these rules. ⁵ So the churches were becoming stronger in their faith, and the number of believers was growing every day.

Paul Is Called to Macedonia

⁶ Paul and those with him went through the areas of Phrygia and Galatia because the Holy Spirit did not allow them to tell the Good News in the province of Asia. ⁷ When they reached the border of Mysia, they tried to go on into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not let them go there. ⁸ So they passed by Mysia and went to the city of Troas.

⁹ That night Paul saw a vision. In it, a man from Macedonia came to Paul. The man stood there and begged, “Come across to Macedonia and help us.” ¹⁰ After Paul had seen the vision, we^[d] immediately prepared to leave for Macedonia. We understood that God had called us to tell the Good News to those people.

The Conversion of Lydia

¹¹ We left Troas in a ship and sailed to the island of Samothrace. The next day we sailed to the city of Neapolis. ¹² Then we went to Philippi, a Roman colony and the leading city in that part of Macedonia. We stayed there for a few days.

¹³ On the Sabbath day we went out the city gate to the river. There we thought we might find a special place for prayer. Some women had gathered there, so we sat down and talked with them. ¹⁴ There was a woman there named Lydia from the city of Thyatira. Her job was selling purple cloth. She was a worshiper of the true God. Lydia was listening to Paul, and the Lord opened her heart to accept what Paul was saying. ¹⁵ She and all the people living in her house were baptized. Then she invited us into her home. She said, “If you think I am a true believer in the Lord Jesus, come stay in my house.” She persuaded us to stay with her.

Paul and Silas in Jail

¹⁶ One day we were going to the place for prayer, and a servant girl met us. She had a spirit^[e] in her that gave her the power to tell what would happen in the future. By doing this she earned a lot of money for the men who owned her. ¹⁷ She started following Paul and the rest of us around. She kept shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God! They are telling you how you can be saved!” ¹⁸ She continued doing this for many days. This bothered Paul, so he turned and said to the spirit, “By the power of Jesus Christ, I command you to come out of her!” Immediately, the spirit came out.

¹⁹ When the men who owned the servant girl saw this, they realized that they could no longer use her to make money. So they grabbed Paul and Silas and dragged them to the public square to meet with the authorities. ²⁰ They brought Paul and Silas before the Roman officials and said, “These men are Jews, and they are making trouble in our city. ²¹ They are telling people to do things that are not right for us as Romans to do.”

²² The whole crowd turned against Paul and Silas. The officials tore the clothes off both men and ordered that they be beaten with rods. ²³ They were beaten severely and thrown into jail. The officials told the jailer, “Guard them very carefully!” ²⁴ When the jailer heard this special order, he put Paul and Silas far inside the jail and bound their feet between large blocks of wood.

²⁵ About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing songs to God. The other prisoners were listening to them. ²⁶ Suddenly there was an earthquake so strong that it shook the foundation of the jail. All the doors of the jail opened, and the chains on all the prisoners fell off. ²⁷ The jailer woke up and saw that the jail doors were open. He thought that the prisoners had already escaped, so he got his sword and was ready to kill himself.^{[f] 28} But Paul shouted, “Don’t hurt yourself! We are all here!”

²⁹ The jailer told someone to bring a light. Then he ran inside and, shaking with fear, fell down in front of Paul and Silas. ³⁰ Then he brought them outside and said, “Men, what must I do to be saved?”

³¹ They said to him, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved—you and all who live in your house.” ³² So Paul and Silas told the message of the Lord to the jailer and all the people who lived in his house. ³³ It was late at night, but the jailer took Paul and Silas and washed their wounds. Then the jailer and all his people were baptized. ³⁴ After this the jailer took Paul and Silas home and gave them some food. All the people were very happy because they now believed in God.

³⁵ The next morning the Roman officials sent some soldiers to tell the jailer, “Let these men go free.”

³⁶ The jailer said to Paul, “The officials have sent these soldiers to let you go free. You can leave now. Go in peace.”

³⁷ But Paul said to the soldiers, “Those officials did not prove that we did anything wrong, but they beat us in public and put us in jail. And we are Roman citizens.^[g] Now they want us to go away quietly. No, they must come here themselves and lead us out!”

³⁸ The soldiers told the officials what Paul said. When they heard that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens, they were afraid. ³⁹ So they came and told them they were sorry. They led them out of the jail and asked them to leave the city. ⁴⁰ But when Paul and Silas came out of the jail, they went to Lydia’s house. They saw some of the believers there and encouraged them. Then they left.