41 So those who received his word were baptized, and ^zthere were added that day about three thousand souls.

42 And ^athey devoted themselves to the apostles’ ^bteaching and the ^cfellowship, to ^dthe breaking of bread and the prayers.

47 praising God and ^khaving favor with all the people. And the Lord ^ladded to their number ^mday by day those who ⁿwere being saved.

11 And ^ggreat fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things.

12 Now many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people ^hby the hands of the apostles. And they were all ⁱtogether in ^jSolomon’s Portico. 13 None of the rest dared join them, but ^kthe people held them in high esteem. 14 And ^lmore than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women,

3 ^mTherefore, brothers,¹ pick out from among you seven men ⁿof good repute, ^ofull of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. 4 But ^pwe will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” 5 And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, ^qa man full of faith and ^rof the Holy Spirit, and ^sPhilip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, ^ta proselyte of Antioch. 6 These they set before the apostles, and ^uthey prayed and ^vlaid their hands on them.

1 Now there were in the church at Antioch ⁿprophets and ⁿteachers, ^oBarnabas, Simeon who was called Niger,¹ Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a lifelong friend of ^pHerod the tetrarch, and Saul. 2 While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, ^qthe Holy Spirit said, ^r“Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul ^sfor the work to which I have called them.” 3 Then after fasting and ^tpraying they laid their hands on them and ^usent them off.

23 And when they had ^pappointed ^qelders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting ^rthey committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

27 And when they arrived and gathered the church together, ^uthey declared all that God had done with them, and ^vhow he had ^wopened ^xa door of faith to the Gentiles.

1 ^yBut some men came down from Judea and were teaching ^zthe brothers, “Unless you are ^acircumcised ^baccording to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” 2 And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and ^cdebate with them, Paul and Barnabas and ^dsome of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to ^ethe apostles and the elders about this question. 3 So, ^fbeing sent on their way by the church, they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, ^gdescribing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles, and ^hbrought great joy to all ⁱthe brothers.¹ 4 ^jWhen they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and ^kthe apostles and the elders, and ^gthey declared all that God had done with them. 5 But some believers who belonged to ^lthe party of the Pharisees rose up and said, ^m“It is necessary ⁿto circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses.”

6 ^oThe ^kapostles and the elders were gathered together to consider this matter. 7 And after there had been much ^pdebate, Peter stood up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, ^qthat by my mouth the Gentiles should hear ^rthe word of ^sthe gospel and believe. 8 And God, ^twho knows the heart, ^ubore witness to them, ^vby giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, 9 and ^whe made no distinction between us and them, ^xhaving cleansed their hearts ^yby faith. 10 Now, therefore, why ^zare you putting God to the test ^aby placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples ^bthat neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? 11 But we ^cbelieve that we will be ^dsaved through ^ethe grace of the Lord Jesus, ^wjust as they will.”

12 And all the assembly fell silent, and they listened to Barnabas and Paul ^fas they related what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles. 13 After they finished speaking, ^gJames replied, “Brothers, listen to me. 14 ^hSimeon has related how God first visited the Gentiles, to take from them ⁱa people for his name. 15 And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written,

19 Therefore ⁿmy judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who ^oturn to God, 20 but should write to them ^pto abstain from ^qthe things polluted by idols, and from ^rsexual immorality, and from ^swhat has been strangled, and from ^sblood. 21 For from ancient generations Moses has had in every city those who proclaim him, ^tfor he is read every Sabbath in the synagogues.”

22 Then it seemed good to ^uthe apostles and the elders, with the whole church, to choose men from among them and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They sent Judas called ^vBarsabbas, and ^wSilas, leading men among ^xthe brothers, 23 with the following letter: ^x“The brothers, both ^uthe apostles and the elders, to the brothers³ who are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia, ^ygreetings. 24 Since we have heard that ^zsome persons have gone out from us and ^atroubled you⁴ with words, unsettling your minds, although we gave them no instructions, 25 it has seemed good to us, having come ^bto one accord, to choose men and send them to you with our ^cbeloved Barnabas and Paul, 26 ^dmen who have ^erisked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 27 We have therefore sent ^fJudas and Silas, who themselves will tell you the same things by word of mouth. 28 For it has seemed good ^gto the Holy Spirit and ^hto us ⁱto lay on you no greater burden than these requirements: 29 ^jthat you abstain from ^kwhat has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell.”

30 So when they were sent off, they went down to Antioch, and having gathered the congregation together, they delivered the letter.

5 ^gSo the churches were strengthened in ^hthe faith, and they increased in numbers ⁱdaily.

28 ^lPay careful attention to yourselves and to all ^mthe flock, in which ⁿthe Holy Spirit has made you ^ooverseers, ^pto care for ^qthe church of God,¹ which he ^robtained ^swith his own blood.²