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133-570: The council decided that Gentile converts to Christianity were not obligated to keep most of the rules prescribed to the Jews by the Mosaic Law , such as Jewish dietary laws and other specific rituals, including the rules concerning circumcision of males . The council did, however, retain the prohibitions on eating blood , meat containing blood , and meat of animals that were strangled, and on fornication and idolatry , sometimes referred to as

266-508: A Greek historian, geographer and philosopher, in his Geographica (c. 24 CE), wrote in detail about Moses, whom he considered to be an Egyptian who deplored the situation in his homeland, and thereby attracted many followers who respected the deity. He writes, for example, that Moses opposed the picturing of the deity in the form of man or animal, and was convinced that the deity was an entity which encompassed everything – land and sea: 35. An Egyptian priest named Moses, who possessed

399-444: A Jewish property should be excommunicated . The violation of Jewish women by gentile men was so frequent that the rabbis declared that a woman raped by a gentile should not be divorced from her husband, as Torah says: "The Torah outlawed the issue of a gentile as that of a beast." A gentile midwife was not to be employed for fear of the poisoning of the baby. The gentiles should be dealt with caution in cases of using them as witness in

532-409: A Moses-like figure existed in the 13th century BCE. Rabbinical Judaism calculated a lifespan of Moses corresponding to 1391–1271 BCE; Jerome suggested 1592 BCE, and James Ussher suggested 1571 BCE as his birth year. The Egyptian name "Moses" is mentioned in ancient Egyptian literature . In the writing of Jewish historian Josephus , ancient Egyptian historian Manetho

665-482: A clear image. His primary work, wherein he describes Jewish philosophy , is his Histories ( c.  100 ), where, according to 18th-century translator and Irish dramatist Arthur Murphy , as a result of the Jewish worship of one God, " pagan mythology fell into contempt". Tacitus states that, despite various opinions current in his day regarding the Jews' ethnicity, most of his sources are in agreement that there

798-645: A criminal or civil suit. The gentile does not honor his promises like that of a Jew. The laws of the Torah were not to be revealed to the gentiles, for the knowledge of these laws might give gentiles an advantage in dealing with Jews. Shimon ben Lakish wrote that "A gentile who observes Sabbath deserves death". Under rabbinic law , a modern-day gentile is only required to observe the Seven Laws of Noah , but Jews are required to observe Mosaic law . During periods of decreased animosity between Jews and gentiles, some of

931-413: A familiar motif in ancient Near Eastern mythological accounts of the ruler who rises from humble origins. For example, in the account of the origin of Sargon of Akkad (23rd century BCE): My mother, the high priestess, conceived; in secret she bore me She set me in a basket of rushes, with bitumen she sealed my lid She cast me into the river which rose over me. Moses' story, like those of

1064-477: A gentile court are not valid for Jews. Rabbi Akiva believed that Israel's monotheism is far superior to the ever-changing beliefs of the gentiles. Jose the Galilean criticizes Israel for inconsistency compared to the faithfulness of the gentiles to their ancestral beliefs. He believed the good deeds of the gentiles will be rewarded as well. Rav Ashi believed that a Jew who sells a gentile property adjacent to

1197-685: A historical Moses-like figure include the princes Ahmose-ankh and Ramose , who were sons of pharaoh Ahmose I , or a figure associated with the family of pharaoh Thutmose III . Israel Knohl has proposed to identify Moses with Irsu , a Shasu who, according to Papyrus Harris I and the Elephantine Stele, took power in Egypt with the support of "Asiatics" (people from the Levant ) after the death of Queen Twosret ; after coming to power, Irsu and his supporters disrupted Egyptian rituals, "treating

1330-618: A letter with our judgment that they should abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality". In the view of some scholars, the reminder of James and the elders here is an expression of concern that Paul was not fully teaching the decision of the Jerusalem Council's letter to Gentiles, particularly in regard to non-strangled kosher meat, which contrasts with Paul's advice to Gentiles in Corinth , to "eat whatever

1463-399: A military expedition to Ethiopia , where he won great victories. After having built the city of Hermopolis , he taught the people the value of the ibis as a protection against the serpents, making the bird the sacred guardian spirit of the city; then he introduced circumcision . After his return to Memphis , Moses taught the people the value of oxen for agriculture, and the consecration of

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1596-522: A people or nation." The development of the word to principally mean "non-Jew" in English is entwined with the history of Bible translations from Hebrew and Greek into Latin and English. Its meaning has also been shaped by Rabbinical Jewish thought and Christian theology . "Gentile" derives from Latin gentilis , which itself derives from the Latin gens , meaning clan or tribe. Gens derives from

1729-669: A portion of the country called the Lower Egypt , being dissatisfied with the established institutions there, left it and came to Judaea with a large body of people who worshipped the Divinity. He declared and taught that the Egyptians and Africans entertained erroneous sentiments, in representing the Divinity under the likeness of wild beasts and cattle of the field; that the Greeks also were in error in making images of their gods after

1862-435: A reference to Cicero , Moses is the only non-Greek writer quoted in the work; contextually he is put on a par with Homer and he is described "with far more admiration than even Greek writers who treated Moses with respect, such as Hecataeus and Strabo ". In Josephus ' (37 – c. 100 CE) Antiquities of the Jews , Moses is mentioned throughout. For example, Book VIII Ch. IV, describes Solomon's Temple , also known as

1995-517: A relationship with Israel and moving up to those closest to a relationship with Israel, seem to be: (1) the Amalekites; (2) the seven Canaanite nations; (3) the nations of the world; (4) the Samaritans; (5) slaves; (6) resident aliens; (7) proselytes." The Hebrew Bible does not show much concern for non-Israelites except insofar as they interact with the people of Israel. Nonetheless, because

2128-661: A result, the Egyptian Pharaoh worried that they might ally themselves with Egypt 's enemies. Moses' Hebrew mother, Jochebed , secretly hid him when Pharaoh ordered all newborn Hebrew boys to be killed in order to reduce the population of the Israelites. Through Pharaoh's daughter , the child was adopted as a foundling from the Nile and grew up with the Egyptian royal family. After killing an Egyptian slave-master who

2261-461: A rod, in remembrance of that used for Moses' miracles. He describes Moses as 80 years old, "tall and ruddy, with long white hair, and dignified". Some historians, however, point out the " apologetic nature of much of Artapanus' work", with his addition of extra-biblical details, such as his references to Jethro: the non-Jewish Jethro expresses admiration for Moses' gallantry in helping his daughters, and chooses to adopt Moses as his son. Strabo ,

2394-507: A single church was rising from Jews and gentiles, who previously lived with different ceremonies and customs. This was so that the gentiles should have some observances in common with Jews, and occasion would be offered of coming together in one worship and faith of God and a cause of dissension might be removed, since by ancient custom blood and strangled things seemed abominable to Jews, and gentiles could be thought to be returning to idolatry if they ate sacrificial food. In places, however, where

2527-406: A theoretical level, gentiles are discussed because, in order to define the people of Israel and its symbols and institutions, it was necessary to define who lay outside that group. Some Tannaim show a positive attitude towards the gentiles. Joshua ben Hananiah believed that there are righteous men amongst the gentiles who will enter the world to come. He believed that except for the descendants of

2660-503: Is a word that today usually means someone who is not Jewish. Other groups that claim Israelite heritage , notably Mormons , have historically used the term gentile to describe outsiders. More rarely, the term is used as a synonym for heathen , pagan . As a term used to describe non-members of a religious/ethnic group, gentile is sometimes compared to other words used to describe the "outgroup" in other cultures (see List of terms for ethnic out-groups ). In some translations of

2793-467: Is associated with narratives of an exodus and a conquest, and several motifs in stories about him are shared with the Exodus tale and that regarding Israel's war with Moab ( 2 Kings 3 ). Moab rebels against oppression, like Moses, leads his people out of Israel, as Moses does from Egypt, and his first-born son is slaughtered at the wall of Kir-hareseth as the firstborn of Israel are condemned to slaughter in

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2926-544: Is no textual indication that this daughter of Pharaoh is the same one who named Moses. Ibn Ezra gave two possibilities for the name of Moses: he believed that it was either a translation of the Egyptian name instead of a transliteration or that the Pharaoh's daughter was able to speak Hebrew. Kenneth Kitchen argues that the Hebrew etymology is most likely correct, as the sounds in the Hebrew m-š-h do not correspond to

3059-555: Is quoted writing of a treasonous ancient Egyptian priest, Osarseph , who renamed himself Moses and led a successful coup against the presiding pharaoh , subsequently ruling Egypt for years until the pharaoh regained power and expelled Osarseph and his supporters. Moses has often been portrayed in Christian art and literature, for instance in Michelangelo's Moses and in works at a number of US government buildings. In

3192-609: Is sold in the meat markets" (1 Corinthians 10:25). The description of the Apostolic Council in Acts 15, generally considered the same event described in Galatians 2, is considered by some scholars to be contradictory to the Galatians account. The historicity of Luke's in Acts account has been challenged and was rejected by some scholars in the mid to late 20th century. However, more recent scholarship inclines towards treating

3325-474: Is still nominally recognized and observed by Eastern Orthodox Christians . The apostolic decree was defined by the Council of Florence to have been obsolete when the distinction between Jewish and gentile converts had disappeared: [The council] also declares that the apostolic prohibition, to abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what is strangled, was suited to that time when

3458-402: Is the good and evil inclination. The soul of the gentiles comes from the three shells: wind, cloud and fire, all of them evil. Moses de León , presumed author of the main kabbalistic work Sefer Ha-Zohar , agrees with this assumption: You know that all of the gentiles (goyim) and all of their matters are in the category of the impure... you must know and discern that the gentiles come from

3591-625: Is the high honour in which it holds the peoples of the East in general and some specific groups among these peoples." In addition to the Judeo-Roman or Judeo-Hellenic historians Artapanus , Eupolemus , Josephus , and Philo , a few non-Jewish historians including Hecataeus of Abdera (quoted by Diodorus Siculus ), Alexander Polyhistor , Manetho , Apion , Chaeremon of Alexandria , Tacitus and Porphyry also make reference to him. The extent to which any of these accounts rely on earlier sources

3724-483: Is unknown, but it is commonly assigned to the late 1st century C.E. The writer quotes Genesis in a "style which presents the nature of the deity in a manner suitable to his pure and great being", but he does not mention Moses by name, calling him 'no chance person' ( οὐχ ὁ τυχὼν ἀνήρ ) but "the Lawgiver" ( θεσμοθέτης , thesmothete ) of the Jews, a term that puts him on a par with Lycurgus and Minos . Aside from

3857-635: Is unknown. Moses also appears in other religious texts such as the Mishnah (c. 200 CE) and the Midrash (200–1200 CE). The figure of Osarseph in Hellenistic historiography is a renegade Egyptian priest who leads an army of lepers against the pharaoh and is finally expelled from Egypt, changing his name to Moses. The earliest existing reference to Moses in Greek literature occurs in

3990-746: Is why Gentiles were created. These remarks by Yosef were sharply criticized by many Jewish organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and American Jewish Committee . Those who hold these views do not necessarily support any sort of harm to non-Jews. Rav Ovadia Yosef, himself, condemned those who vandalized Arab property, as did the vast majority of Orthodox leaders. Many Orthodox schools have expressed more humanistic views. Rav Aharon Lichtenstein, Rosh Yeshivah of Gush, for example, strongly opposed what he saw as racist attitudes among certain segments of Religious Zionism. Jewish philosopher and professor Menachem Kellner criticizes

4123-466: The 'Eastern' text of the decree as the only authentic text (in four items) and in interpreting its prescriptions in a sense not ethical but ritual" [ Les problèmes du Livre des Actes d'après les travaux récents (Louvain, 1950), p.70]. The Council of Jerusalem retained the prohibitions on eating blood, meat containing blood, and meat of animals that were strangled, and on fornication and idolatry. The resulting Apostolic Decree in Acts 15 may simply parallel

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4256-481: The Amaleks , the rest of the gentiles will adopt monotheism and the righteous among them will escape Gehenna . Other rabbinical writings show more hostility towards gentiles which needs to be understood in the context of frequent persecution of the Jews in this period. The most famous and extreme of the anti-gentile teachers is Simeon bar Yochai . He is often quoted by antisemites in his sayings: "The best among

4389-710: The Apostolic Decree . The purpose and origin of these four prohibitions is debated. Accounts of the council are found in Acts of the Apostles (chapter 15 in two different forms, the Alexandrian and Western versions ) and also possibly in Paul 's letter to the Galatians (chapter 2). Some scholars dispute that Galatians 2 is about the Council of Jerusalem, while others have defended this identification. Jerusalem

4522-654: The Book of Deuteronomy another. Moses has traditionally been regarded as the author of those four books and the Book of Genesis , which together comprise the Torah , the first section of the Hebrew Bible . Scholars hold different opinions on the historicity of Moses. For instance, according to William G. Dever , the modern scholarly consensus is that the biblical person of Moses is largely mythical while also holding that "a Moses-like figure may have existed somewhere in

4655-649: The Exodus of the Israelites out of Egypt and across the Red Sea , after which they based themselves at Mount Sinai , where Moses received the Ten Commandments . After 40 years of wandering in the desert, Moses died on Mount Nebo at the age of 120, within sight of the Promised Land . The majority of scholars see the biblical Moses as a legendary figure, while retaining the possibility that Moses or

4788-452: The Jewish religion or took a tip from Jochebed (Moses' mother). The Egyptian princess who named Moses is not named in the book of Exodus. However, she was known to Josephus as Thermutis (identified as Tharmuth), and some within Jewish tradition have tried to identify her with a "daughter of Pharaoh" in 1 Chronicles 4:17 named Bithiah , but others note that this is unlikely since there

4921-584: The Pharisees who had become believers stated that it was "needful to circumcise [the Gentiles,] and to command [them] to keep the law of Moses " ( KJV ). The primary issue which was addressed related to the requirement of circumcision, as the author of Acts relates, but other important matters arose as well, as the Apostolic Decree indicates. The dispute was between those such as the followers of

5054-650: The Proto-Indo-European *ǵénh₁tis , meaning birth or production. The original meaning of "clan" or "family" was extended in post-Augustan Latin to acquire the wider meaning of belonging to a distinct nation or ethnicity. Later still, the word came to refer to other nations, 'not a Roman citizen'. In Saint Jerome 's Latin version of the Bible, the Vulgate , gentilis was used along with gentes , to translate Greek and Hebrew words with similar meanings when

5187-579: The Quran , gentile is used to translate an Arabic word that refers to non-Jews and/or people not versed in or not able to read scripture. The English word gentile derives from the Latin word gentilis , meaning "of or belonging to the same people or nation" (from Latin gēns  'clan, tribe, people, family'). Archaic and specialist uses of the word gentile in English (particularly in linguistics) still carry this meaning of "relating to

5320-669: The Red Sea Crossing as a sign of his power to Israel and the nations. After defeating the Amalekites in Rephidim , Moses led the Israelites to Mount Sinai , where he was given the Ten Commandments from God, written on stone tablets . However, since Moses remained a long time on the mountain, some of the people feared that he might be dead, so they made a statue of a golden calf and worshipped it , thus disobeying and angering God and Moses. Moses, out of anger, broke

5453-554: The foreskin positively. At the time, most followers of Jesus (which historians refer to as Jewish Christians ) were Jewish by birth and even converts would have considered the early Christians as a part of Judaism . According to scholars, the Jewish Christians affirmed every aspect of the contemporary Second Temple Judaism with the addition of the belief that Jesus was the Jewish Messiah . The purpose of

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5586-517: The kabbalists on whether gentiles access the mystical knowledge ( Daat ). Isaac Luria , prominent kabbalist, wrote: Israel possesses the three levels of soul, nefesh, ruah, neshamah,—from holiness... the gentiles possess only the level of nefesh from the feminine side of the shells... for the souls of the nations (gentiles), come from the Qlippoth , are called evil and not good' since they are created without knowledge (Daat). The animal soul of man

5719-468: The seven Noahide laws found in the Old Testament , and thus be a commonality rather than a differential. However, modern scholars dispute the connection between Acts 15 and the seven Noahide laws. The Apostolic Decree may have been a major act of differentiation of the early Church from its Jewish roots . The Jewish Encyclopedia states: For great as was the success of Barnabas and Paul in

5852-591: The "Pillars of the Church", led by James, who believed that the church must observe the Torah (i.e. the rules of traditional Judaism ( Galatians 2:12 )), and Paul the Apostle, who called himself "Apostle to the Gentiles", who believed there was no such necessity. The main concern for Paul, which he subsequently expressed in greater detail with his letters directed to the early Christian communities in Asia Minor ,

5985-473: The 4th century BCE, long after he is believed to have lived. No contemporary Egyptian sources mention Moses, or the events of Exodus–Deuteronomy, nor has any archaeological evidence been discovered in Egypt or the Sinai wilderness to support the story in which he is the central figure. David Adams Leeming states that Moses is a mythic hero and the central figure in Hebrew mythology. The Oxford Companion to

6118-599: The Bible states that the historicity of Moses is the most reasonable (albeit not unbiased) assumption to be made about him as his absence would leave a vacuum that cannot be explained away. Oxford Biblical Studies states that although few modern scholars are willing to support the traditional view that Moses himself wrote the five books of the Torah , there are certainly those who regard the leadership of Moses as too firmly based in Israel's corporate memory to be dismissed as pious fiction . The story of Moses' discovery follows

6251-481: The Biblical story may reflect an attempt to cancel out traces of Moses' Egyptian origins . The Egyptian character of his name was recognized as such by ancient Jewish writers like Philo and Josephus . Philo linked Moses' name ( Ancient Greek : Μωϋσῆς , romanized :  Mōysēs , lit.   'Mōusês') to the Egyptian ( Coptic ) word for 'water' ( môu , μῶυ ), in reference to his finding in

6384-662: The Christian religion has been promulgated to such an extent that no Jew is to be met with and all have joined the church, uniformly practicing the same rites and ceremonies of the gospel and believing that to the clean all things are clean, since the cause of that apostolic prohibition has ceased, so its effect has ceased. This reasoning was repeated in Pope Urban VIII 's Creed for Oriental converts of 1642 and Pope Benedict XIV 's encyclical Ex Quo of 1756. Gentile Gentile ( / ˈ dʒ ɛ n t aɪ l / )

6517-649: The Church. The Jewish Encyclopedia also states: R. Emden [...] gives it as his opinion that the original intention of Jesus, and especially of Paul, was to convert only the Gentiles to the seven moral laws of Noah and to let the Jews follow the Mosaic law—which explains the apparent contradictions in the New Testament regarding the laws of Moses and the Sabbath . The 20th-century American Catholic priest and biblical scholar Joseph A. Fitzmyer SJ disputes

6650-432: The Egyptian history of Hecataeus of Abdera (4th century BCE). All that remains of his description of Moses are two references made by Diodorus Siculus, wherein, writes historian Arthur Droge, he "describes Moses as a wise and courageous leader who left Egypt and colonized Judaea ". Among the many accomplishments described by Hecataeus, Moses had founded cities, established a temple and religious cult, and issued laws: After

6783-454: The Exile (i.e., in the first half of the 6th century BCE), testifies to tension between the people of Judah and the returning post-Exilic Jews (the " gôlâ "), stating that God is the father of Israel and that Israel's history begins with the Exodus and not with Abraham . The conclusion to be inferred from this and similar evidence (e.g., the Book of Ezra and the Book of Nehemiah ) is that

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6916-689: The Exodus story, in what Calvinist theologian Peter Leithart described as "an infernal Passover that delivers Mesha while wrath burns against his enemies". An Egyptian version of the tale that crosses over with the Moses story is found in Manetho who, according to the summary in Josephus , wrote that a certain Osarseph , a Heliopolitan priest, became overseer of a band of lepers , when Amenophis , following indications by Amenhotep, son of Hapu , had all

7049-448: The Gentiles deserves to be killed", "The most pious woman is addicted to sorcery" and "The best of snakes ought to have its head crushed". Such extreme views can be explained by the sage's life experience: he witnessed his teacher being tortured to death, and became a fugitive after speaking out against Roman oppression. Later commentators have limited this teaching to idolators and only at times of war. Eliezer ben Hurcanus writes that

7182-569: The God of Israel is a universal God, there must be some relationship between gentiles and God. Accordingly, Novak observes, gentiles as well as Israelites are enjoined in the book of Psalms to "ascribe to the Lord glory and strength" ( Psalms 96:7 ). Christine E. Hayes states that gentiles in the Hebrew Bible were generally gerim (resident aliens). They were not necessarily converts, whether in

7315-547: The Greek word ethnos is used for peoples or nations in general, and is typically translated by the word "people", as in John 11:50. ("Nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not.") The translation "gentiles" is used in some instances, as in Matthew 10:5–6 to indicate non-Israelite peoples: These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into

7448-482: The Jerusalem Council and its rulings as a historical event, though this is sometimes expressed with caution. Bruce Metzger 's Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament includes a summary of current research on the topic as of about 1994: In conclusion, therefore, it appears that the least unsatisfactory solution of the complicated textual and exegetical problems of the Apostolic Decree is to regard

7581-581: The KJV restricts the translation to "gentile" when the text is specifically referring to non-Jewish people. For example, the only use of the word in Genesis is in chapter 10, verse 5, referring to the peopling of the world by descendants of Japheth , "By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands; every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations." In the New Testament ,

7714-611: The LDS Church, since members regard themselves as regathered Israelites. The LDS Church's website states this about the meaning of gentile in Scripture (including the Book of Mormon), "As used in the scriptures, gentiles has several meanings. Sometimes it designates people of non-Israelite lineage, sometimes people of non-Jewish lineage, and sometimes nations that are without the gospel, even though there may be some Israelite blood among

7847-507: The Nile and the biblical folk etymology . Josephus, in his Antiquities of the Jews , claims that the second element, -esês , meant 'those who are saved'. The problem of how an Egyptian princess (who, according to the Biblical account found in the book of Exodus , gave him the name "Moses") could have known Hebrew puzzled medieval Jewish commentators like Abraham ibn Ezra and Hezekiah ben Manoah . Hezekiah suggested she either converted to

7980-481: The academic David Novak wrote, with limited exceptions, "The Bible can be seen as one long discussion of what differentiates Israel from all the other peoples of the world." The Hebrew Bible does not have a word which directly corresponds to the modern concept of a gentile (see etymology above). Instead, the Bible views different groups of gentiles in different ways. Novak states that, "The biblical categories of Gentiles, beginning with those farthest removed from

8113-454: The age of one hundred and twenty: So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab according to the word of the LORD. And He buried him in the valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth-peor; but no man knows his burial place to this day. (Deuteronomy 34:5–6, Amplified Bible ) Moses is honoured among Jews today as the "lawgiver of Israel", and he delivers several sets of laws in

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8246-497: The application of Biblical law to non-Jews. It was stated by the apostles and elders in the council: "the Holy Spirit and we ourselves have favored adding no further burden to you, except these necessary things, to abstain from things sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication. If you carefully keep yourselves from these things, you will prosper." (Acts 15:27–28) This Apostolic Decree

8379-446: The assumption of some Orthodox Jews that there is an "ontological divide between Jews and Gentiles", which he believes is contrary to what the Torah teaches. Some Kabbalistic writings suggest a distinction between the souls of the gentiles and the souls of the Jews. These writings describe three levels, elements, or qualities of soul: Other descriptions of the soul add two more levels Chaya and Yechida. There has been debate among

8512-425: The banks of the Jordan River , in sight of the land, Moses assembled the tribes . After recalling their wanderings, he delivered God's laws by which they must live in the land, sang a song of praise and pronounced a blessing on the people, and passed his authority to Joshua , under whom they would possess the land. Moses then went up Mount Nebo , looked over the Promised Land spread out before him, and died, at

8645-399: The binary jew/gentile distinction, the mormon/gentile distinction arose as Mormons were socially excluded and ostracised: according to John L. Needham of Utah State University : Moses In Abrahamic religions , Moses was a prophet who led the Israelites out of slavery in the Exodus . He is considered the most important prophet in Judaism and Samaritanism , and one of

8778-402: The centuries after the Old and New Testament were written – created an increasingly clear binary opposition between "Jew" and "non-Jew". The Hebrew word "goy" went through a change in meaning which parallels the journey of "gentilis/gentile" – both words moving from meaning "nation" to "non-Jew" today. The word "Goy" is now also used in English, principally by Jewish people – see goy . In 2006,

8911-456: The circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God. Then answered Peter, Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we? Within a few centuries, some Christians used the word "gentiles" to mean non-Christians. The alternative pagani

9044-428: The claim that the Apostolic Decree is based on the seven Noahide laws ( Gen 9 ), and instead proposes Lev 17–18 as the basis for it. ( See also : Leviticus 18 ). While the prohibitions of the Apostolic Decree were reiterated in the Apostolic Canons and at the Council in Trullo , it "has been obsolete for centuries in the West ", according to the 19th-century German Catholic bishop Karl Josef von Hefele , though it

9177-404: The course of the four books. The first is the Covenant Code , the terms of the covenant which God offers to the Israelites at Mount Sinai. Embedded in the covenant are the Decalogue (the Ten Commandments , Exodus 20:1–17), and the Book of the Covenant (Exodus 20:22–23:19). The entire Book of Leviticus constitutes a second body of law, the Book of Numbers begins with yet another set, and

9310-407: The decisive role he played in Israelite religion, and a third that argues there are elements of both history and legend from which "these issues are hotly debated unresolved matters among scholars". According to Brian Britt, there is divide amongst scholars when discussing matters on Moses that threatens gridlock. According to the official Torah commentary for Conservative Judaism, it is irrelevant if

9443-476: The destruction of the city until its rebuilding as Aelia Capitolina in c.  130 AD , when all Jews were banished from Jerusalem. The apostles Barnabas and Paul went to Jerusalem to meet with the "Pillars of the Church": James the Just, Peter , and John . The Council of Jerusalem is generally dated to c.  48–50 AD , roughly 15 to 25 years after the crucifixion of Jesus (between 26 and 36 AD ). Acts 15 and Galatians 2 both suggest that

9576-417: The difference in the first case is one of essential quality. Similar anti-gentile remarks have been expressed by the late chief Sephardi Rabbi Ovadia Yosef , in which he stated in a sermon in 2010 that "The sole purpose of Gentiles is to serve Jews". He said that gentiles served a divine purpose: "Why are Gentiles needed? They will work, they will plow, they will reap. We will sit like an effendi and eat. That

9709-403: The elders were present." (Acts 21:17–18, ESV ) The elders then proceed to notify Paul of what seems to have been a common concern among Jewish believers, that he was teaching diaspora Jewish converts to Christianity "to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or walk according to our customs." They remind the assembly that, "as for the Gentiles who have believed, we have sent

9842-693: The end of the Exodus journey had become the enemies of the Israelites due to their notorious role in enticing the Israelites to sin against God . Moses was twice given notice that he would die before entry to the Promised Land: in Numbers 27:13, once he had seen the Promised Land from a viewpoint on Mount Abarim , and again in Numbers 31:1 once battle with the Midianites had been won. On

9975-402: The establishment of settled life in Egypt in early times, which took place, according to the mythical account, in the period of the gods and heroes, the first ... to persuade the multitudes to use written laws was Mneves, a man not only great of soul but also in his life the most public-spirited of all lawgivers whose names are recorded. Droge also points out that this statement by Hecataeus

10108-589: The fifth century, after being rejected by both orthodox Judaism and orthodox Christianity. With the ministry of Paul the Apostle the gospel began to be spread among the non-Jewish subjects of the Roman empire. A question existed among the disciples whether receiving the Holy Spirit through proselytization would be restricted to Israelites or whether it would include the gentiles as in Acts 10:34–47 : And they of

10241-421: The figure of Moses and the story of the Exodus must have been preeminent among the people of Judah at the time of the Exile and after, serving to support their claims to the land in opposition to those of the returning exiles. A theory developed by Cornelis Tiele in 1872, which has proved influential, argued that Yahweh was a Midianite god, introduced to the Israelites by Moses, whose father-in-law Jethro

10374-533: The first stage, including Moses and his direct heirs; to the final stage where "the Temple of Jerusalem continued to be surrounded by an aura of sanctity". Strabo's "positive and unequivocal appreciation of Moses' personality is among the most sympathetic in all ancient literature." His portrayal of Moses is said to be similar to the writing of Hecataeus who "described Moses as a man who excelled in wisdom and courage". Egyptologist Jan Assmann concludes that Strabo

10507-511: The five, originally independent, themes of that work. Manfred Görg  [ de ] and Rolf Krauss  [ de ] , the latter in a somewhat sensationalist manner, have suggested that the Moses story is a distortion or transmogrification of the historical pharaoh Amenmose ( c.  1200 BCE ), who was dismissed from office and whose name was later simplified to msy (Mose). Aidan Dodson regards this hypothesis as "intriguing, but beyond proof". Rudolf Smend argues that

10640-402: The fourfold decree as original (foods offered to idols, strangled meat, eating blood, and unchastity—whether ritual or moral), and to explain the two forms of the threefold decree in some such way as those suggested above. An extensive literature exists on the text and exegesis of the Apostolic Decree. ... According to Jacques Dupont, "Present day scholarship is practically unanimous in considering

10773-481: The gods like the people" and halting offerings to the Egyptian deities. They were eventually defeated and expelled by the new Pharaoh Setnakhte and, while fleeing, they abandoned large quantities of gold and silver they had stolen from the temples. Non-biblical writings about Jews, with references to the role of Moses, first appear at the beginning of the Hellenistic period , from 323 BCE to about 146 BCE. Shmuel notes that "a characteristic of this literature

10906-400: The god’s name omitted. The suffix mose appears in Egyptian pharaohs’ names like Thutmose ('born of Thoth ') and Ramose ('born of Ra '). One of the Egyptian names of Ramesses was Ra-mesesu mari-Amon , meaning “born of Ra, beloved of Amon” (he was also called Usermaatre Setepenre , meaning “Keeper of light and harmony, strong in light, elect of Re”). Linguist Abraham Yahuda , based on

11039-549: The guidance of the first being, by whose aid they should get out of their present plight. In this version, Moses and the Jews wander through the desert for only six days, capturing the Holy Land on the seventh. The Septuagint , the Greek version of the Hebrew Bible, impressed the pagan author of the famous classical book of literary criticism, On the Sublime , traditionally attributed to Longinus . The date of composition

11172-544: The heathen world, the authorities in Jerusalem insisted upon circumcision as the condition of admission of members into the church, until, on the initiative of Peter, and of James, the head of the Jerusalem church, it was agreed that acceptance of the Noachian Laws—namely, regarding avoidance of idolatry, fornication, and the eating of flesh cut from a living animal—should be demanded of the heathen desirous of entering

11305-431: The historical Moses existed, calling him "the folkloristic, national hero". Jan Assmann argues that it cannot be known if Moses ever lived because there are no traces of him outside tradition. Though the names of Moses and others in the biblical narratives are Egyptian and contain genuine Egyptian elements, no extrabiblical sources point clearly to Moses. No references to Moses appear in any Egyptian sources prior to

11438-424: The human form. For God [said he] may be this one thing which encompasses us all, land and sea, which we call heaven, or the universe, or the nature of things.... 36. By such doctrine Moses persuaded a large body of right-minded persons to accompany him to the place where Jerusalem now stands. In Strabo's writings of the history of Judaism as he understood it, he describes various stages in its development: from

11571-513: The inclusion of non-Jews and the applicability of the Law of Moses , including circumcision . Over a few centuries, this led to a split between Jewish Christians , who followed Jesus but also Mosaic Law, and Pauline Christianity (also known as Gentile Christianity) which abandoned Mosaic Law and eventually became the official religion of the Roman Empire. Jewish Christian beliefs died out around

11704-412: The journey, God tried to kill Moses for failing to circumcise his son, but Zipporah saved his life . Moses returned to carry out God's command, but God caused the Pharaoh to refuse, and only after God had subjected Egypt to ten plagues did Pharaoh relent. Moses led the Israelites to the border of Egypt, but their God hardened the Pharaoh's heart once more, so that he could destroy Pharaoh and his army at

11837-575: The land. Later on, Korah was punished for leading a revolt against Moses. When the forty years had passed, Moses led the Israelites east around the Dead Sea to the territories of Edom and Moab . There they escaped the temptation of idolatry, conquered the lands of Og and Sihon in Transjordan , received God's blessing through Balaam the prophet, and massacred the Midianites , who by

11970-452: The land. The spies returned with samples of the land's fertility but warned that its inhabitants were giants . The people were afraid and wanted to return to Egypt, and some rebelled against Moses and against God. Moses told the Israelites that they were not worthy to inherit the land, and would wander the wilderness for forty years until the generation who had refused to enter Canaan had died, so that it would be their children who would possess

12103-686: The law of Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath. Acts 15:23–29 sets out the content of the letter written in accordance with James' proposal. The Western version of Acts (see Acts of the Apostles: Manuscripts ) adds the negative form of the Golden Rule ("and whatever things ye would not have done to yourselves, do not do to another"). This determined questions wider than that of circumcision, particularly dietary questions, fornication, idolatry, and blood, as well as

12236-512: The laws of the Temple, capital laws or others. Even one who is not an erudite Torah scholar is obligated to recognize this simple fact; it cannot be erased or obscured ... One who carefully studies the sources cited previously will realize the abysmal difference between the concepts "Jew" and "Gentile" -- and consequently, he will understand why Halacha differentiates between them. Bar-Chayim further quotes Abraham Isaac Kook (1865–1935), founder of

12369-592: The lepers in Egypt quarantined in order to cleanse the land so that he might see the gods. The lepers are bundled into Avaris , the former capital of the Hyksos , where Osarseph prescribes for them everything forbidden in Egypt, while proscribing everything permitted in Egypt. They invite the Hyksos to reinvade Egypt, rule with them for 13 years – Osarseph then assumes the name Moses – and are then driven out. Other Egyptian figures which have been postulated as candidates for

12502-411: The level of holiness, their soul remains trapped in the unholy world of the impure Qlippoth. However, other Kabbalists like Abraham Abulafia believed that higher levels of soul are to some extent accessible to gentiles. The Greek ethnos where translated as "gentile" in the context of early Christianity implies non-Israelite. In the years after the ministry of Jesus , there were questions over

12635-671: The like are classified merely as gentiles, goyim or nokrim " "The rabbis... had one term for all non-Israelites, whether idolaters or farmers, liars or trustworthy, Greek or Roman." However, the attitudes of the Rabbis to gentiles were not simple or uniform. Porton argues that the Mishnah-Tosefta discusses gentiles for two quite different reasons: firstly, practically, to guide the relations between Israelites and gentiles who were living alongside each other in Palestine. Secondly, at

12768-591: The main kabbalistic text of hasidic movement, the Tanya (or Likkutei Amarim). Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi , the founder of the Chabad hasidic dynasty, claims that Jews like gentiles possess a vital animal soul, but the animal soul of the Jew comes from the fourth husk (Qlippoth nogah), while the animal soul of the gentiles comes from the three lower impure husks (Qlippoth Tumaot). Thus nothing gentiles do can elevate them to

12901-472: The medieval and Renaissance period, he is frequently shown as having small horns , as the result of a mistranslation in the Latin Vulgate bible, which nevertheless at times could reflect Christian ambivalence or have overtly antisemitic connotations. The Egyptian root msy ('child of') or mose has been considered as a possible etymology, arguably an abbreviation of a theophoric name with

13034-791: The meeting was called to debate the legitimacy of the evangelizing mission of Barnabas and Paul to the Gentiles and the Gentile converts' freedom from most of the Mosaic Law , especially from the circumcision of males , a practice that was considered execrable and repulsive in the Greco-Roman world during the period of Hellenization of the Eastern Mediterranean , and was especially disdained in Classical civilization both from ancient Greeks and Romans , which instead valued

13167-618: The meeting, according to Acts, was to resolve a disagreement in Antioch , which had wider implications than just circumcision, since circumcision is considered the "everlasting" sign of the Abrahamic covenant in Judaism ( Genesis 17:9–14 ). The Acts say that "certain men which came down from Judaea " were preaching that "[u]nless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses , you cannot be saved"; Acts states that furthermore some of

13300-413: The mind of every gentile is always intent upon idolatry . He believed that gentiles only perform animal sacrifice to make a name for themselves. He further believed that gentiles have no share in the world to come . Eleazar of Modi'im wrote that Jews, when guilty of the same sin as gentiles, will not enter hell whereas the gentiles will. Eleazar ben Azariah believed that the rulings performed by

13433-491: The modern or rabbinic sense, but were still given many rights and privileges. They were also allowed to keep their distinct ethnic identities. But after Ezra-Nehemiah , many Israelites believed there was an impermeable ritual and genealogical boundary between themselves and gentiles. However, other scholars argue that the boundary is rooted in religious factors. Saul Oylan argues that gentiles automatically became Israelite when they lived in one of their tribal territories, which

13566-756: The modern sense were the Biblical Hebrew word nokhri ( נכרי ‎ – often otherwise translated as 'stranger') and for the New Testament Greek word éthnē ( ἔθνη ). The first English translators followed this approach, using the word "gentile" to refer to the non-Israelite nations (and principally using the word "nation(s)" to translate goy/goyim in other contexts). See the "Christianity" section . These developments in Bible translation practice were related to developments in Jewish Rabbinical and Christian thinking which – in

13699-574: The most important prophets in Christianity , Islam , the Baháʼí Faith , and other Abrahamic religions . According to both the Bible and the Quran , God dictated the Mosaic Law to Moses, which he wrote down in the five books of the Torah . According to the Book of Exodus , Moses was born in a time when his people, the Israelites, an enslaved minority, were increasing in population and, as

13832-430: The other patriarchs , most likely had a substantial oral prehistory (he is mentioned in the Book of Jeremiah and the Book of Isaiah ). The earliest mention of him is vague, in the Book of Hosea and his name is apparently ancient, as the tradition found in Exodus gives it a folk etymology. Nevertheless, the Torah was completed by combining older traditional texts with newly-written ones. Isaiah , written during

13965-413: The people. This latter usage is especially characteristic of the word as used in the Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants." Thus, in such usage, Jewish people may be gentiles because they are not members of the LDS Church. Beyond this Scriptural usage, gentile was widely used by Mormons in day-to-day life in the nineteenth century, with such usage declining through the twentieth century. As with

14098-513: The priesthood under the sons of Moses' brother Aaron , and destroyed those Israelites who fell away from his worship. In his final act at Sinai, God gave Moses instructions for the Tabernacle , the mobile shrine by which he would travel with Israel to the Promised Land. From Sinai, Moses led the Israelites to the Desert of Paran on the border of Canaan. From there he sent twelve spies into

14231-514: The pronunciation of Egyptian msy in the relevant time period. The Israelites had settled in the Land of Goshen in the time of Joseph and Jacob , but a new Pharaoh arose who oppressed the children of Israel. At this time Moses was born to his father Amram , son (or descendant) of Kehath the Levite , who entered Egypt with Jacob's household; his mother was Jochebed (also Yocheved), who

14364-514: The quotation: "Known to God from eternity are all His works" and then submitted a proposal, which was accepted by the Church and became known as the Apostolic Decree: It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood. For

14497-538: The rabbinic laws against fellowship and fraternization were relaxed; for example, Maimonides was the personal physician of Saladin . Even though most contemporary rabbinic schools are not as hostile to Gentiles as Medieval rabbinic schools were , some Orthodox rabbinic schools hold extremely xenophobic views. For example, scholars from the Zionist HaRav Kook yeshiva are schooled in the doctrine that Jews and gentiles have different kinds of souls. One of

14630-459: The rabbinic sages whose views are recorded in the Mishnah , from approximately 10–220 CE. It was this rabbinic literature of the first centuries CE that developed the concept of the gentile as we understand it today - as "any individual who is not a Jew, erasing all ethnic and social differences among different others". "Mishnah-Tosefta makes no clear distinction among the various types of non-Israelites. Romans, Greeks, Syrians, Egyptians, and

14763-498: The same by Moses gave rise to the cult of Apis . Finally, after having escaped another plot by killing the assailant sent by the king, Moses fled to Arabia , where he married the daughter of Raguel [Jethro], the ruler of the district. Artapanus goes on to relate how Moses returns to Egypt with Aaron, and is imprisoned, but miraculously escapes through the name of YHWH in order to lead the Exodus. This account further testifies that all Egyptian temples of Isis thereafter contained

14896-523: The side of impurity, for the souls of the gentiles derive from the side of impurity The following passage in the Zohar reaffirms this idea: Said Rabbi Hiyya: If this is true (that neshamah is acquired through following the Torah) is it so that gentiles have no neshamah, only the living nefesh? Rabbi Yohannan said: That is correct. The view that gentiles only possess bestial souls was more popularized by

15029-402: The southern Transjordan in the mid-late 13th century B.C." and that "archeology can do nothing" to prove or confirm either way. Some scholars, such as Konrad Schmid and Jens Schröter, consider Moses a historical figure. According to Solomon Nigosian, there are actually three prevailing views among biblical scholars: one is that Moses is not a historical figure, another view strives to anchor

15162-591: The spelling given in the Tanakh , argues that it combines "water" or "seed" and "pond, expanse of water," thus yielding the sense of "child of the Nile " ( mw - š ). The biblical account of Moses' birth provides him with a folk etymology to explain the ostensible meaning of his name. He is said to have received it from the Pharaoh's daughter : "he became her son. She named him Moses [ מֹשֶׁה , Mōše ], saying, 'I drew him out [ מְשִׁיתִֽהוּ , mǝšīṯīhū ] of

15295-425: The tablets, and later ordered the elimination of those who had worshiped the golden statue, which was melted down and fed to the idolaters . God again wrote the ten commandments on a new set of tablets. Later at Mount Sinai , Moses and the elders entered into a covenant, by which Israel would become the people of YHWH, obeying his laws, and YHWH would be their god. Moses delivered the laws of God to Israel, instituted

15428-404: The text referred to the non-Israelite peoples. The most important of such Hebrew words was goy ( גוי ‎, plural, goyim ), a term with the broad meaning of "people" or "nation" which was sometimes used to refer to Israelites, but with the plural form goyim tending to be used in the Bible to refer to non-Israelite nations. Other words translated in some contexts to mean "gentile/s" in

15561-463: The two details about Moses that were most likely to be historical are his name, of Egyptian origin, and his marriage to a Midianite woman, details which seem unlikely to have been invented by the Israelites; in Smend's view, all other details given in the biblical narrative are too mythically charged to be seen as accurate data. The name King Mesha of Moab has been linked to that of Moses. Mesha also

15694-515: The water'." This explanation links it to the Semitic root משׁה , m-š-h , meaning "to draw out". The eleventh-century Tosafist Isaac b. Asher haLevi noted that the princess names him the active participle 'drawer-out' ( מֹשֶׁה , mōše ), not the passive participle 'drawn-out' ( נִמְשֶׁה , nīmše ), in effect prophesying that Moses would draw others out (of Egypt); this has been accepted by some scholars. The Hebrew etymology in

15827-577: The way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Altogether, the word is used 123 times in the King James Version of the Bible, and 168 times in the New Revised Standard Version. In the terminology of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), the word "gentile" can be used to refer to people who are not members of

15960-416: The yeshiva and the first Ashkenazi chief rabbi of British Mandatory Palestine : The difference between the Jewish soul, in all its independence, inner desires, longings, character and standing, and the soul of all the Gentiles, on all of their levels, is greater and deeper than the difference between the soul of a man and the soul of an animal, for the difference in the latter case is one of quantity, while

16093-419: The yeshiva's scholars, David Bar-Hayim , published a paper in 1989 in which he explained the doctrine, entitled "Yisrael Nikraim Adam" (Israel Gentiles Man). In his conclusion, Bar-Hayim writes: There is no escaping the facts: the Torah of Israel makes a clear distinction between a Jew, who is defined as "Man," and a Gentile. This distinction is expressed in a long list of Halachic laws, be they monetary laws,

16226-616: Was a Midianite priest. It was to such a Moses that Yahweh reveals his real name, hidden from the Patriarchs who knew him only as El Shaddai . Against this view is the modern consensus that most of the Israelites were native to Palestine . Martin Noth argued that the Pentateuch uses the figure of Moses, originally linked to legends of a Transjordan conquest, as a narrative bracket or late redactional device to weld together four of

16359-507: Was an Exodus from Egypt. By his account, the Pharaoh Bocchoris , suffering from a plague , banished the Jews in response to an oracle of the god Zeus - Amun . A motley crowd was thus collected and abandoned in the desert. While all the other outcasts lay idly lamenting, one of them, named Moses, advised them not to look for help to gods or men, since both had deserted them, but to trust rather in themselves, and accept as divine

16492-581: Was beating a Hebrew, Moses fled across the Red Sea to Midian , where he encountered the Angel of the Lord , speaking to him from within a burning bush on Mount Horeb . God sent Moses back to Egypt to demand the release of the Israelites from slavery. Moses said that he could not speak eloquently, so God allowed Aaron , his elder brother, to become his spokesperson. After the Ten Plagues , Moses led

16625-435: Was beating a Hebrew. Moses, in order to escape Pharaoh's death penalty , fled to Midian (a desert country south of Judah), where he married Zipporah . There, on Mount Horeb , God appeared to Moses as a burning bush , revealed to Moses his name YHWH (probably pronounced Yahweh ) and commanded him to return to Egypt and bring his chosen people (Israel) out of bondage and into the Promised Land ( Canaan ). During

16758-485: Was believed to reflect 'early practices' ( Ezekiel 47:21–23 ). Troy W. Martin believes Jewishness is defined by adherence to covenantal circumcision, regardless of ancestry ( Genesis 17:9–14 ). Thus, even an uncircumcised Jew could be a gentile despite his biological descent from Abraham. He believes this view was extended to the New Testament , where membership in God's chosen people was based on religious adherence rather than ancestry ( Galatians 3:28 ). Tannaim were

16891-445: Was considered binding on all the other local Christian congregations in other regions. The author of Acts gives an account of a restatement by James and the elders in Jerusalem of the contents of the letter on the occasion of Paul's final Jerusalem visit, immediately prior to Paul's arrest at the temple, recounting: "When we had come to Jerusalem, the brothers received us gladly. On the following day Paul went in with us to James, and all

17024-599: Was felt to be less elegant. In the King James Version , "gentile" is only one of several words used to translate goy or goyim . It is translated as "nation" 374 times, "heathen" 143 times, "gentiles" 30 times, and "people" 11 times. Some of these verses, such as Genesis 12:2 ("I will make of thee a great nation") and Genesis 25:23 ("Two nations are in thy womb") refer to Israelites or descendants of Abraham . Other verses, such as Isaiah 2:4 and Deuteronomy 11:23 are generic references to any nation. Typically,

17157-484: Was kin to Kehath. Moses had one older (by seven years) sister, Miriam , and one older (by three years) brother, Aaron . Pharaoh had commanded that all male Hebrew children born would be drowned in the river Nile , but Moses' mother placed him in an ark and concealed the ark in the bulrushes by the riverbank, where the baby was discovered and adopted by Pharaoh's daughter , and raised as an Egyptian. One day, after Moses had reached adulthood, he killed an Egyptian who

17290-549: Was similar to statements made subsequently by Eupolemus. The Jewish historian Artapanus of Alexandria (2nd century BCE) portrayed Moses as a cultural hero, alien to the Pharaonic court. According to theologian John Barclay, the Moses of Artapanus "clearly bears the destiny of the Jews, and in his personal, cultural and military splendor, brings credit to the whole Jewish people". Jealousy of Moses' excellent qualities induced Chenephres to send him with unskilled troops on

17423-612: Was the first center of the Christian Church according to the Book of Acts and (according to the Catholic Encyclopedia ) the location of "the first Christian church". The apostles lived and taught there for some time after Pentecost . James the Just, brother of Jesus was leader of the early Christian community in Jerusalem, and his other kinsmen likely held leadership positions in the surrounding area after

17556-414: Was the historian "who came closest to a construction of Moses' religion as monotheistic and as a pronounced counter-religion." It recognized "only one divine being whom no image can represent ... [and] the only way to approach this god is to live in virtue and in justice." The Roman historian Tacitus (c. 56–120 CE) refers to Moses by noting that the Jewish religion was monotheistic and without

17689-483: Was the inclusion of Gentiles into God's New Covenant , sending the message that faith in Christ is sufficient for salvation . At the council, following advice offered by Peter ( Acts 15:7–11 and Acts 15:14 ), Barnabas and Paul gave an account of their ministry among the gentiles ( Acts 15:12 ), and James quoted from the words of the prophet Amos ( Acts 15:16–17 , quoting Amos 9:11–12 ). James added his own words to

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