Passage

Acts 15.19-29

Book: Acts · NASB95

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"17. That the residue of men may seek after the Lord, And all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, 18. Saith the Lord, who maketh these things known from of old."

"19. Wherefore my judgment is, that we trouble not them that from among the Gentiles turn to God; 20. but that we write unto them, that they abstain from the pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from what is strangled, and from blood. 21. For Moses from generations of old hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath. 22. Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, to choose men out of their company, and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas; namely, Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, chief men among the brethren: 23. and they wrote thus by them, The apostles and the elders, brethren, unto the brethren who are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia, greeting: 24. Forasmuch as we have heard that certain who went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls; to whom we gave no commandment; 25. it seemed good unto us, having come to one accord, to choose out men and send them unto you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, 26. men that have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 27. We have sent therefore Judas and Silas, who themselves also shall tell you the same things by word of mouth. 28. For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things: 29. that ye abstain from things sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication; from which if ye keep yourselves, it shall be well with you. Fare ye well."

"30. So they, when they were dismissed, came down to Antioch; and having gathered the multitude together, they delivered the epistle. 31. And when they had read it, they rejoiced for the consolation." (Acts 15:17-31, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"17. That the rest of men may seek after the Lord; all the Gentiles who are called by my name, says the Lord, who does all these things. 18. All of God’s works are known to him from eternity.’"

"19. “Therefore my judgment is that we don’t trouble those from among the Gentiles who turn to God, 20. but that we write to them that they abstain from the pollution of idols, from sexual immorality, from what is strangled, and from blood. 21. For Moses from generations of old has in every city those who preach him, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath.” 22. Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole assembly, to choose men out of their company, and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas: Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, chief men among the brothers. 23. They wrote these things by their hand: “The apostles, the elders, and the brothers, to the brothers who are of the Gentiles in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia: greetings. 24. Because we have heard that some who went out from us have troubled you with words, unsettling your souls, saying, ‘You must be circumcised and keep the law,’ to whom we gave no commandment; 25. it seemed good to us, having come to one accord, to choose out men and send them to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, 26. men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 27. We have sent therefore Judas and Silas, who themselves will also tell you the same things by word of mouth. 28. For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay no greater burden on you than these necessary things: 29. that you abstain from things sacrificed to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality, from which if you keep yourselves, it will be well with you. Farewell.”"

"30. So, when they were sent off, they came to Antioch. Having gathered the multitude together, they delivered the letter. 31. When they had read it, they rejoiced over the encouragement." (Acts 15:17-31, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"17. That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things. 18. Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world."

"19. Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God: 20. But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood. 21. For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath day. 22. Then pleased it the apostles and elders, with the whole church, to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas; namely, Judas surnamed Barsabas, and Silas, chief men among the brethren: 23. And they wrote letters by them after this manner; The apostles and elders and brethren send greeting unto the brethren which are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia: 24. Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law: to whom we gave no such commandment: 25. It seemed good unto us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men unto you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, 26. Men that have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 27. We have sent therefore Judas and Silas, who shall also tell you the same things by mouth. ^{mouth: Gr. word} 28. For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things; 29. That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well."

"30. So when they were dismissed, they came to Antioch: and when they had gathered the multitude together, they delivered the epistle: 31. Which when they had read, they rejoiced for the consolation. ^{consolation: or, exhortation}" (Acts 15:17-31, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"17. that the residue of men may seek after the Lord, and all the nations, upon whom My name hath been called, saith the Lord, who is doing all these things. 18. 'Known from the ages to God are all His works;"

"19. wherefore I judge: not to trouble those who from the nations do turn back to God, 20. but to write to them to abstain from the pollutions of the idols, and the whoredom, and the strangled thing; and the blood; 21. for Moses from former generations in every city hath those preaching him, in the synagogues every sabbath being read.' 22. Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole assembly, chosen men out of themselves to send to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas, Judas surnamed Barsabas, and Silas, leading men among the brethren, 23. having written through their hand thus: 'The apostles, and the elders, and the brethren, to those in Antioch, and Syria, and Cilicia, brethren, who [are] of the nations, greeting; 24. seeing we have heard that certain having gone forth from us did trouble you with words, subverting your souls, saying to be circumcised and to keep the law, to whom we did give no charge, 25. it seemed good to us, having come together with one accord, chosen men to send unto you, with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, 26. men who have given up their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 27. we have sent, therefore, Judas and Silas, and they by word are telling the same things. 28. 'For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, no more burden to lay upon you, except these necessary things: 29. to abstain from things offered to idols, and blood, and a strangled thing, and whoredom; from which keeping yourselves, ye shall do well; be strong!'"

"30. They then, indeed, having been let go, went to Antioch, and having brought the multitude together, did deliver the epistle, 31. and they having read, did rejoice for the consolation;" (Acts 15:17-31, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: TBD
Audience: TBD
Location: TBD
Time period: TBD

Theological reading

Patristic / early-church-father exegesis, to be added.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

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Quoted in

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.