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.”
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:
24. We have heard that some men have come to you from our group. What they said troubled and upset you. But we did not tell them to do this.
25. We have all agreed to choose some men and send them to you. They will be with our dear friends, Barnabas and Paul.
26. Barnabas and Paul have given their lives to serve our Lord Jesus Christ.
27. So we have sent Judas and Silas with them. They will tell you the same things.
28. We agree with the Holy Spirit that you should have no more burdens, except for these necessary things:
29. Don’t eat food that has been given to idols. Don’t eat meat from animals that have been strangled or any meat that still has the blood in it. Don’t be involved in sexual sin. 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.
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.
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.