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:
16. ‘I will return after this. I will build David’s house again. It has fallen down. I will build again the parts of his house that have been pulled down. I will make his house new.
17. Then the rest of the world will look for the Lord God— all those of other nations who are my people too. The Lord said this. And he is the one who does all these things.’ Amos 9:11-12
18. ‘All this has been known from the beginning of time.’
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: Don’t eat food that has been given to idols. This makes the food unclean. Don’t be involved in sexual sin. Don’t eat meat from animals that have been strangled or any meat that still has the blood in it.
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.”