Acts 15:24

Simplified Cowboy Version

We heard some cowboys from Jerusalem have been saying some troubling things to y'all. They've been teaching some wrong stuff, but understand that we did not send them to you.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Since we have heard that some without our authorization went out from us and troubled you with their words and unsettled your hearts,

King James Version (1611)
Forasmuch as we haue heard, that certaine which went out from vs, haue troubled you with words, subuerting your soules, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keepe the Law, to whom we gaue no such commandement:

King James Version
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:

English Standard Version
Since we have heard that some persons have gone out from us and troubled you with words, unsettling your minds, although we gave them no instructions,

New American Standard Bible
Since we have heard that some of our number to whom we gave no instruction have confused you by their teaching, upsetting your souls,

New Century Version
We have heard that some of our group have come to you and said things that trouble and upset you. But we did not tell them to do this.

Amplified Bible
Since we have heard that some of our men have troubled you with their teachings, causing distress and confusion—men to whom we gave no such orders or instructions—

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Since we have heard that some of our number to whom we gave no instruction have disturbed you with their words, unsettling your souls,

Legacy Standard Bible
Since we have heard that some of us, to whom we gave no instruction, have gone out and disturbed you with their words, unsettling your souls,

Berean Standard Bible
It has come to our attention that some went out from us without our authorization and unsettled your minds by what they said.

Contemporary English Version
We have heard that some people from here have terribly upset you by what they said. But we did not send them!

Complete Jewish Bible
We have heard that some people went out from among us without our authorization, and that they have upset you with their talk, unsettling your minds.

Darby Translation
Inasmuch as we have heard that some who went out from amongst us have troubled you by words, upsetting your souls, [saying that ye must be circumcised and keep the law]; to whom we gave no commandment;

Easy-to-Read Version
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.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Forasmuch as we haue heard, that certaine which went out from vs, haue troubled you with wordes, and cumbred your mindes, saying, Ye must be circumcised and keepe the Lawe: to whom we gaue no such commaundement,

George Lamsa Translation
We have heard that certain men have gone out and disturbed you with words, thus upsetting your souls, saying, You must be circumcised, and keep the law: on these things we have never commanded them.

Good News Translation
We have heard that some who went from our group have troubled and upset you by what they said; they had not, however, received any instruction from us.

Lexham English Bible
Because we have heard that some have gone out from among us—to whom we gave no orders—and have thrown you into confusion by words upsetting your minds,

Literal Translation
Since we heard that some of us having gone out have troubled you with words, unsettling your souls, saying, Be circumcised and keep the Law, to whom we gave no command;

American Standard Version
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;

Bible in Basic English
Because we have knowledge that some who went from us have been troubling you with their words, putting your souls in doubt; to whom we gave no such order;

Hebrew Names Version
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 mitzvah;

International Standard Version
We have heard that some men, coming from us without instructions from us, have said things to trouble you and have unsettled your minds.your minds, saying, ‘You must be circumcised and keep the law.’">[fn]Acts 15:1; Galatians 2:4; 5:12; Titus 1:10-11;">[xr]

Etheridge Translation
It hath been heard by us, that men from us have gone forth and disturbed you with words, and have subverted your souls by saying, that you should be circumcised and observe the law, whom we have not commanded.

Murdock Translation
We have heard, that some have gone from us and disquieted you, by discourses, and have subverted your minds, by saying, That ye must be circumcised and keep the law; things which we have not commanded them.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
The Apostles, and elders, & brethren, sende greetinges vnto ye brethren, which are of the gentiles in Antiochia, Syria, & Cilicia. Forasmuch as we haue heard, that certayne which departed from vs, haue troubled you with wordes, & cumbred your myndes, saying ye must be circumcised and kepe the lawe, to who we gaue no such commaundent:

English Revised Version
Forasmuch as we have heard that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls; to whom we gave no commandment;

World English Bible
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;

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
Forasmuch as we have heard, that some who came from us have troubled you with words, unsettling your minds, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law, whom we commanded not.

Weymouth's New Testament
As we have been informed that certain persons who have gone out from among us have disturbed you by their teaching and have unsettled your minds, without having received any such instructions from us;

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
For we herden that summe wenten out fro vs, and trobliden you with wordis, and turneden vpsodoun youre soulis, to whiche men we comaundiden not,

Update Bible Version
Since we have heard that some who went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls; to whom we gave no commandment;

Webster's Bible Translation
Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain who 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:

New English Translation
Since we have heard that some have gone out from among us with no orders from us and have confused you, upsetting your minds by what they said,

New King James Version
Since 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" [fn] --to whom we gave no such commandment--

New Living Translation
"We understand that some men from here have troubled you and upset you with their teaching, but we did not send them!

New Life Bible
We have heard that some from our group have troubled you and have put doubt in your minds. They said that you must go through the religious act of becoming a Jew and you must keep the Law of Moses. We did not tell them to say these things.

New Revised Standard
Since we have heard that certain persons who have gone out from us, though with no instructions from us, have said things to disturb you and have unsettled your minds,

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Inasmuch as we had heard that, certain from among us, had troubled you with words, dismantling your souls, - unto whom we had given no instructions,

Douay-Rheims Bible
Forasmuch as we have heard that some going out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, to whom we gave no commandment:

Revised Standard Version
Since we have heard that some persons from us have troubled you with words, unsettling your minds, although we gave them no instructions,

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
For as moche as we have hearde yt certayne which departed fro vs have troubled you with wordes and combred youre myndes sayinge: Ye must be circumcised and kepe the lawe to whom we gave no soche comaundemet.

Young's Literal Translation
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,

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
For so moch as we haue herde that certayne of oures are departed, and haue troubled you, and combred youre myndes, sayenge: ye must be circumcysed, and kepe ye lawe (to whom we gaue no soch commaundemet)

Mace New Testament (1729)
Whereas we have been appriz'd, that some who went from us, have embarass'd you with their discourse, and unsettled your minds, maintaining, that you ought to be circumcised, and to observe the law, though we gave them no such injunction: after having been assembled,

THE MESSAGE
We heard that some men from our church went to you and said things that confused and upset you. Mind you, they had no authority from us; we didn't send them. We have agreed unanimously to pick representatives and send them to you with our good friends Barnabas and Paul. We picked men we knew you could trust, Judas and Silas—they've looked death in the face time and again for the sake of our Master Jesus Christ. We've sent them to confirm in a face-to-face meeting with you what we've written.

Contextual Overview

²²Then Jesus's handpicked cowboys and the church jigger bosses, as well as the rest of the outfit, chose some cowboys to represent them and sent them back to Antioch in Syria with a letter about their decision. They all traveled back with Paul and Barnabas. The two cowboys chosen as representatives were a couple of the church bosses, Judas (called Barsabbas) and Silas. ²³The letter said, "This letter is from Jesus's handpicked cowboys and jigger bosses from the church in Jerusalem. It is written to the maverick believers in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia. Howdy, boys! ²⁴We heard some cowboys from Jerusalem have been saying some troubling things to y'all. They've been teaching some wrong stuff, but understand that we did not send them to you. ²⁵We've all got together and came up with a decision about what they were teaching. We've sent some representatives back with Paul and Barnabas, ²⁶who have risked their lives for Jesus Christ, so you will know this is from us. ²⁷Judas and Silas will confirm what we've come up with regarding those other fellow's wrong teachings. ²⁸It seemed like the right things to do, and we believe the Holy Spirit agrees we should not make y'all do anything burdensome besides these few things, ²⁹Don't eat meat from sacrificed animals. Don't consume blood or the meat of strangled animals. And stay away from sexual perversions. If you do this, you will be riding good. Adios, amigos!" ³⁰The messengers struck a long trot toward Antioch with the letter. As soon as they arrived, they gathered in all the cowboys who were riding for God and read them the letter. ³¹People were whooping and hollering and waving their hats in the air at the good news.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

that certain: Jeremiah 23:16, Galatians 2:4, Galatians 5:4, Galatians 5:12, 2 Timothy 2:14, Titus 1:10, Titus 1:11, 1 John 2:19

Ye must: Acts 15:1, Acts 15:9, Acts 15:10, Galatians 2:3, Galatians 2:4, Galatians 6:12, Galatians 6:13

Reciprocal: Acts 15:5 - That it Acts 15:19 - that Acts 21:20 - and they Romans 16:17 - cause 1 Corinthians 7:18 - being 2 Corinthians 11:13 - false Galatians 1:7 - but Galatians 2:14 - why Galatians 5:2 - that Galatians 5:10 - but Galatians 6:17 - let 2 Timothy 3:8 - resist Titus 3:11 - is subverted

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Forasmuch as we have heard,.... By the report of Paul and Barnabas, who were sent by the church at Antioch to Jerusalem, to acquaint them with the state of their case:

that certain which went out from us; Acts 15:1

have troubled you with words, or doctrines:

subverting your souls; removing them from the doctrine of grace to another Gospel, and which deserved not the name of a Gospel; and was very destructive to their souls, at least to the peace and com fort of them: this shows what an opinion the apostles, and elders, and members of the church at Jerusalem had of these "judaizing" preachers, and their tenets; they looked upon them as troublers of God's Israel, and upon their doctrines as subversive of spiritual joy and comfort.

Saying, ye must be circumcised and keep the law; the ceremonial law; the Alexandrian copy, and the Vulgate Latin and Ethiopic versions leave out this clause; Acts 15:1- :,

Acts 15:1- :.

to whom we gave no such commandment: it looks as if these "judaizing preachers" not only pretended to be sent out by the apostles, to preach; but that they had particularly this in their instructions from them, that they should insist upon it, that the Gentiles that were received into the churches, should be circumcised, and be obliged to keep the other parts of the ceremonial law, when they had no such orders from them.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Forasmuch - Since we have heard.

That certain - That some, Acts 15:1.

Have troubled you with words - With doctrines. They have disturbed your minds, and produced contentions.

Subverting your souls - The word used here occurs nowhere else in the New Testament ἀνασκευάζοντες anaskeuazontes. It properly means “to collect together the vessels used in a house the household furniture - for the purpose of removing it.” It is applied to marauders, robbers, and enemies who remove and bear off property, thus producing distress, confusion, and disorder. It is thus used in the sense of disturbing or destroying, and here denotes that they “unsettled their minds” - that they produced anxiety, disturbance, and distress by these doctrines about Moses.

To whom we gave no such commandment - They went, therefore, without authority. Self-constituted and self-sent teachers not infrequently produce disturbance and distress. Had the apostles been consulted on this subject, the difficulty would have been avoided. By thus saying that they had not given them a command to teach these things, they practically assured the Gentile converts that they did not approve of the course which those who went from Judea had taken.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Acts 15:24. Certain which went out from us — So the persons who produced these doubtful disputations at Antioch, c., had gone out from the apostles at Jerusalem, and were of that Church: persons zealous for the law, and yet, strange to tell, so conscientiously attached to the Gospel that they risked their personal safety by professing it.

To whom we gave no such commandment — As, therefore, they went out from that Church, they should have taught nothing which was not owned and taught by it much less should they have taught in opposition to it.