mnt - Acts:15-16

mnt@Acts:15:1 @ But some men came down from Judea and attempted to teach the brethren, saying, "Unless you are circumcised according to Moses custom, you cannot be saved."

mnt@Acts:15:2 @ Now when dispute and controversy sprang up between them and Paul and Barnabas, the brethren appointed Paul and Barnabas, and certain others, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question.

mnt@Acts:15:3 @ So the church saw them off on their journey, and they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria. Here they set forth the conversion of the Gentiles, and brought great joy to all the brothers.

mnt@Acts:15:4 @ Upon their arrival in Jerusalem they were received by the church and the apostles and elders, and they told them all things that God had done with them.

mnt@Acts:15:5 @ But certain men who had belonged to the sect of the Pharisees, but were now believers, stood up and said, "It is necessary to circumcise Gentile, and to order them to keep the Law of Moses."

mnt@Acts:15:6 @ The apostles and elders met to consider the matter;

mnt@Acts:15:7 @ and after there had been a long discussion, Peter rose and said. "Brothers, you know how a good while ago God made choice among you, that from my lips the Gentiles were to hear the message of the gospel and believe.

mnt@Acts:15:8 @ "And God, who knows the hearts of all, gave this testimony in their behalf, by bestowing upon them the Holy Spirit just as he did upon us;

mnt@Acts:15:9 @ "and he made no distinction between us and them, in cleansing their hearts by faith.

mnt@Acts:15:10 @ "Now then, why are you tempting God by laying on the necks of these disciples a yoke which neither our forefathers nor we have been able to bear?

mnt@Acts:15:11 @ "On the contrary we believe that it is by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ that we and they shall be saved."

mnt@Acts:15:12 @ Then the whole assembly remained silent, and listened to Barnabas and Saul as they told the signs and wonders which God had wrought among the Gentiles through them.

mnt@Acts:15:13 @ When they had finished speaking, James said.

mnt@Acts:15:14 @ "Brothers, listen to me. Symeon has told how God first looked graciously upon the Gentiles, to take out from among them a people to be called by his name.

mnt@Acts:15:15 @ "And this is in harmony with the language of the prophets, which says.

mnt@Acts:15:16 @ "After these things I will return, And I will rebuild Davids fallen tent; And I will build again its ruins, And I will set it up;

mnt@Acts:15:17 @ "So that the rest of men may seek after the Lord, Even all the Gentiles, who are called by my name,

mnt@Acts:15:18 @ "Says the Lord, who has been making this known from the beginning of the world.

mnt@Acts:15:19 @ "My judgment therefore, is against troubling those who turn to God from among the Gentiles;

mnt@Acts:15:20 @ "but that we should write to them to abstain from the pollution of idols and from fornication, from meat killed by strangling, and from blood.

mnt@Acts:15:21 @ "For Moses from the earliest times has had his preachers in every town where he is read aloud, Sabbath after Sabbath, in the synagogues."

mnt@Acts:15:22 @ Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, together with the whole church, to select some of their number, and to send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. The men chosen were Judas called Bar- Sabbas, and Silas, leading men among the brethren.

mnt@Acts:15:23 @ They took with them the following letter. "The apostles and older brothers send greeting to the Gentile Brotherhood throughout Antioch and Syria and Cilicia;

mnt@Acts:15:24 @ "as we have heard that some of your number who went out from us have troubled you with words and upset your souls, without having received any such instruction from us;

mnt@Acts:15:25 @ "we have unanimously decided to select certain men, and to send them to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul;

mnt@Acts:15:26 @ "men who have risked their very lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

mnt@Acts:15:27 @ "So we have sent Judas and Silas to tell you the same things by word of mouth.

mnt@Acts:15:28 @ "For it has seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things;

mnt@Acts:15:29 @ "that you abstain from food that has been sacrificed to idols, and from tasting blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication. Keep yourselves clear from these things and it will be well with you. Farewell."

mnt@Acts:15:30 @ So they, when they had been despatched, went down to Antioch, and after gathering the whole multitude together, they handed them the letter,

mnt@Acts:15:31 @ and when they had read it they rejoiced at the comfort it brought.

mnt@Acts:15:32 @ And Judas and Silas, who were themselves prophets, encouraged and strengthened the brothers with many a good counsel.

mnt@Acts:15:33 @ After spending some time there the brothers let them go with a greeting of peace to those who had sent them.

mnt@Acts:15:34 @ Silas, however, stayed with them.

mnt@Acts:15:35 @ Paul and Barnabas also stayed in Antioch teaching and proclaiming the word of the Lord, in company with others.

mnt@Acts:15:36 @ And after some days Paul said to Barnabas, "Let is go back and visit the brothers in every city in which we have proclaimed the word of the Lord. Let us see how they fare."

mnt@Acts:15:37 @ Now Barnabas wanted to take with them John, who was called Mark.

mnt@Acts:15:38 @ But Paul thought it unwise to take with them one who had deserted them to the Pamphylia, and had not gone on with them to the work.

mnt@Acts:15:39 @ So there arose a sharp irritation, so that they parted company; Barnabas taking Mark with him, sailed away to Cyprus;

mnt@Acts:15:40 @ while Paul chose Silas, and set forth commended by the brothers to the grace of God.

mnt@Acts:15:41 @ He went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.

mnt@Acts:16:1 @ And he came also to Derbe and Lystra, where there was a certain disciple named Timothy, the son of a believing Jewess, and of a Greek father.

mnt@Acts:16:2 @ He was well spoken of by the brothers in Lystra and Iconiun.

mnt@Acts:16:3 @ Now Paul, wishing that this man should accompany him on his journey, took him and circumcised him because of the local Jews, who all knew that his father was a Greek.

mnt@Acts:16:4 @ And as they went on their way through the cities they handed them the resolutions which the apostles and the elders in Jerusalem had ordained for them to keep.

mnt@Acts:16:5 @ So the churches were strengthened in the faith and continued to increase in number daily.

mnt@Acts:16:6 @ Then they went through Phrygia and Galatia, the Holy Spirit having forbidden them to proclaim the message in Asia.

mnt@Acts:16:7 @ When they got as far as Mysia, they attempted to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not permit it;

mnt@Acts:16:8 @ and so they passed by Mysia and went on down to Troas.

mnt@Acts:16:9 @ Here a vision appeared to Paul in the night. There stood a man of Macedonia, entreating him and saying, "Come over into Macedonia and help us!"

mnt@Acts:16:10 @ So when he had seen the vision, we sought at once to go forth into Macedonia, because we concluded that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

mnt@Acts:16:11 @ So we set sail from Troas and ran a straight course to Samothrace. The next day we arrived in Neapolis,

mnt@Acts:16:12 @ and thence came to Philippi, a city of Macedonia, the fore most in its district, a Roman colony. There we stayed for some time.

mnt@Acts:16:13 @ On the Sabbath Day we went outside the city gate, to a riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer; and we sat down and talked to the women who had gathered there.

mnt@Acts:16:14 @ Among them was a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, who belonged to the town of Thyatira. She, since she was a worshiper of God, listened to us, and the Lord opened her heart to attend to what Paul said.

mnt@Acts:16:15 @ When she was baptized, and her household, she urged us, saying, "If in your judgment I am a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my house." And she compelled us to come.

mnt@Acts:16:16 @ Now as we were going to the place of prayer, a certain slave girl met us, who had a spirit of divination, and who brought her masters great gain by fortune-telling.

mnt@Acts:16:17 @ She used to follow after Paul and us, crying out again and again, "These men are servants of the most high God, who proclaimed to you the way of salvation."

mnt@Acts:16:18 @ She persisted in this for many days, until Paul, worn out, turned round and said to the spirit, "I charge you, in the name of Jesus Christ, to come out of her." In that very hour it came out of her.

mnt@Acts:16:19 @ But when her owners saw that their hopes of gain were gone, they seized Paul and Silas, and dragged them before the magistrates, into the market-place.

mnt@Acts:16:20 @ Then they brought them before the praetors, saying. "These fellows are Jews, who are making a great disturbance in our city.

mnt@Acts:16:21 @ "They are teaching customs which it is not lawful for us as Romans to adopt or practise."

mnt@Acts:16:22 @ The crowd, too, rose up together against them, and the praetors, after having them stripped, and after ordering them to be flogged,

mnt@Acts:16:23 @ had many lashes inflicted upon them, and put them in prison, with a charge to the jailer to keep them safe.

mnt@Acts:16:24 @ On receiving so strict an order he cast them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks.

mnt@Acts:16:25 @ But at midnight, while Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them,

mnt@Acts:16:26 @ suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the very foundations of the prison-house were shaken; and instantly all the doors were opened, and every ones chains fell off.

mnt@Acts:16:27 @ The jailer, roused from sleep, and seeing the doors wide open, drew his sword and was about to kill himself, because he thought that the prisoners had escaped.

mnt@Acts:16:28 @ But Paul shouted loudly to him. "Do yourself no harm; for we are all here!"

mnt@Acts:16:29 @ So he called for lights, and sprang in, and, trembling for fear, fell down before Paul and Silas,

mnt@Acts:16:30 @ and brought them out, saying, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"

mnt@Acts:16:31 @ "Believe on the Lord Jesus," they answered, "and you will be saved, you and all your household."

mnt@Acts:16:32 @ Then they spoke the message of the Lord to him, as well as to all who were in his house.

mnt@Acts:16:33 @ And he took them, the same hour of the night, and washed their wounds, and he was baptized at once, he and all his.

mnt@Acts:16:34 @ And after bringing them up into his house, he set food before them, overjoyed with all his household in having believed in God.

mnt@Acts:16:35 @ But in the morning the praetors sent their lictors with the order, "Let these men go."

mnt@Acts:16:36 @ The jailer reported the words to Paul, saying. "The praetors have sent to release you; so come out, and go in peace."

mnt@Acts:16:37 @ But Paul said. "They have flogged us publicly, uncondemned, men that are Roman citizens; and have thrown us into prison. Are they now going to get rid of us secretly? No, indeed! Let them come here, themselves and take us out."

mnt@Acts:16:38 @ The lictors reported these words to the praetors, who were frightened when they heard that they were Romans.

mnt@Acts:16:39 @ So they came and conciliated them, and after taking them out of prison, begged them to leave the town.

mnt@Acts:16:40 @ So Paul and Silas came out of the prison, and went to Lydias house; and after they had seen the brethren and encouraged them, they left Philippi.

mnt@Acts:17:1 @ Now when they had gone through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica. Here there was a Jewish synagogue,