The apostles and presbyters and the brethren, to the brethren from among the Gentiles which are at Antioch, and in Syria, and Cilicia, greeting: (24)Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain persons who went out from us have disturbed you with discourses, unsettling your minds, insisting, that you should be circumcised, and observe the law: to whom we gave no such charge: (25)it hath seemed fit to us, assembled unanimously, to send unto you select men with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, (26)men who have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. (27)We have sent therefore Judas and Silas, and they by word of mouth will tell you the same things. (28)For it hath seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us, to lay upon you no other burden except these things which are of absolute necessity; (29)that ye abstain from eating whatever is sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what is strangled, and from whoredom: from which things carefully preserving yourselves, ye shall do well. Farewell. (30)They then being thus dispatched, came to Antioch: and assembling the multitude, they delivered the letter: (31)and when they had read it, they rejoiced in the consolation _of it_. (32)Then Judas and Silas, being also themselves prophets, exhorted the brethren, in many a discourse, and established them. (33)And having stayed their time, they were dismissed in peace from the brethren to the apostles. (34)However Silas thought proper to abide there. (35)Paul also and Barnabas abode at Antioch, teaching and preaching, with many others also, the word of the Lord. (36)Then after certain days said Paul to Barnabas, Let us now return and visit our brethren in every city among whom we have preached the word of the Lord, that we may see how they hold on. (37)Now Barnabas had resolved to take with him John, whose surname is Mark. (38)But Paul did not think him a fit person to take with them, who had withdrawn from them from Pamphylia, and no longer went with them to the service. (39)So there grew up a sudden quarrel, insomuch that they separated from each other: and Barnabas, taking Mark with him, sailed away to Cyprus: (40)but Paul selecting Silas, departed, being commended by the brethren to the favour of God. (41)And he passed through Syria and Cilicia, confirming the churches. CHAP. XVI. THEN he came to Derbe and Lystra: and, behold! a certain disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a certain Jewish woman, who believed; but his father was a Greek: (2)who was highly spoken of by the brethren at Lystra and Iconium. (3)Him Paul resolved to take out with him; and took and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places: for they all knew his father, that he was a Greek. (4)So as they passed through the cities, they delivered to them for their observance the ordinances decreed by the apostles and presbyters that were at Jerusalem.