Acts 15:20
18 that have been known for ages.’
19 It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not cause trouble for the Gentiles who are turning to God.
Instead, we should write and tell them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals, and from blood.
21 For Moses has been proclaimed in every city from ancient times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath.”
22 Then the apostles and elders, with the whole church, decided to select men from among them to send to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They chose Judas called Barsabbas and Silas, two leaders among the brothers,
Here the Bible tells a story about someone else. Ask yourself what it can say to us today. Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.
Compare
- BSB
- Instead, we should write and tell them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals, and from blood.
- KJV
- But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.
- WEB
- but that we write to them that they abstain from the pollution of idols, from sexual immorality, from what is strangled, and from blood.
- ASV
- 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.
- DARBY
- but to write to them to abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from what is strangled, and from blood.
- BLB
- but to write to them to abstain from the pollutions of idols, and [from] sexual immorality, and [from] that which is strangled, and from blood.
- ÅB
- men skrive til dem at de skal avholde seg fra avgudenes urenhet og fra hor og fra det som er kvalt, og fra blod.
- OTB
- men i stedet skal vi skrive til dem og instruere dem om å avstå fra mat forurenset av avguder, fra seksuell umoral, fra kjøtt av kvalte dyr, og fra blod.
- B1930
- men skrive til dem at de skal avholde sig fra avgudenes urenhet og fra hor og fra det som er kvalt, og fra blod.
Study notes (Tyndale)
Original text and word study
Cross references
Acts 15:29
You must abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things. Farewell.
Read in contextRevelation 2:20
But I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching she misleads My servants to be sexually immoral and to eat food sacrificed to idols.
Read in contextRevelation 2:14
But I have a few things against you, because some of you hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to place a stumbling block before the Israelites so they would eat food sacrificed to idols and commit sexual immorality.
Read in contextLeviticus 3:17
This is a permanent statute for the generations to come, wherever you live: You must not eat any fat or any blood.”
Read in contextGenesis 9:4
But you must not eat meat with its lifeblood still in it.
Read in context1 Corinthians 8:4–13
So about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world, and that there is no God but one.
Read in contextActs 21:25
As for the Gentile believers, we have written to them our decision that they must abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality.”
Read in context1 Corinthians 10:7–8
Do not be idolaters, as some of them were. As it is written: “The people sat down to eat and to drink, and got up to indulge in revelry.”
Read in context