'The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, The land of the Road by the Sea, and beyond the Jordan, With Galilee of the Gentiles--

And, if you show courtesy to your brothers only, what are you doing more than others? Even the Gentiles do this!

When praying, do not repeat the same words over and over again, as is done by the Gentiles, who think that by using many words they will obtain a hearing.

These twelve Jesus sent out as his Messengers, after giving them these instructions-- "Do not go to the Gentiles, nor enter any Samaritan town,

'Behold! the Servant of my Choice, My Beloved, in whom my heart delights! I will breathe my spirit upon him, And he shall announce a time of judgment to the Gentiles.

And on his name shall the Gentiles rest their hopes."

If he refuses to listen to them, speak to the Church; and, if he also refuses to listen to the Church, treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax-gatherer.

And give him up to the Gentiles for them to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify; and on the third day he will rise."

Jesus, however, called the ten to him, and said: "The rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them as you know, and their great men oppress them.

"Listen!" he said. "We are going up to Jerusalem; and there the Son of Man will be betrayed to the Chief Priests and the Teachers of the Law, and they will condemn him to death, and they will give him up to the Gentiles,

But Jesus called the ten to him, and said: "Those who are regarded as ruling among the Gentiles lord it over them, as you know, and their great men oppress them.

A Light to bring light to the Gentiles, And to be the Glory of thy people Israel."

For he will be given up to the Gentiles, mocked, insulted and spat upon;

They will fall by the edge of the sword, and will be taken prisoners to every land, and 'Jerusalem will be under the heel of the Gentiles,' until their day is over--as it shall be.

Jesus, however, said: "The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their oppressors are styled 'Benefactors.'

But the Lord said to him: "Go, for this man is my chosen instrument to uphold my Name before the Gentiles and their kings, and the people of Israel.

Those converts from Judaism, who had come with Peter, were amazed that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been bestowed even upon the Gentiles;

The Apostles and the Brethren throughout Judea heard that even the Gentiles had welcomed God's Message.

On hearing this statement, they said no more, but broke out into praise of God. "So even to the Gentiles," they exclaimed, "God has granted the repentance which leads to Life!"

Then Paul and Barnabas spoke out fearlessly, and said: "It was necessary that the Message of God should be told to you first; but, since you reject it and reckon yourselves not worthy of the Immortal Life--we turn to the Gentiles!

For this is the Lord's command to us--'I have destined thee for a Light to the Gentiles, a means of Salvation to the ends of the earth'."

On hearing this, the Gentiles were glad and extolled God's Message; and all those who had been enrolled for Immortal Life became believers in Christ;

But the Jews who refused to believe stirred up the Gentiles, and poisoned their minds against the Brethren.

And, when there was an attempt on the part of both Gentiles and Jews, with their leading men, to resort to violence and to stone them,

After their arrival, they gathered the Church together, and gave an account of all that God had helped them to do, and especially how he had opened to the Gentiles the door of faith;

The Church, therefore, sent them on their journey, and they made their way through Phoenicia and Samaria, telling the story of the conversion of the Gentiles, to the great joy of all the Brethren.

After much discussion, Peter rose and said: "You, my Brothers, know well that long ago God singled me out--that through my lips the Gentiles should hear the Message of the Good News, and become believers in Christ.

Now God, who reads all hearts, declared his acceptance of the Gentiles, by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us.

Every voice in the assembly was hushed, as they listened to Barnabas and Paul, while they gave an account of all the signs and wonders which God had shown among the Gentiles through them.

Simon has described the manner in which God first visited the Gentiles, in order to take from among them a people to bear his Name.

That so the rest of mankind may earnestly seek the Lord--even all the Gentiles on whom my Name has been bestowed."

In my judgment, therefore, we should not add to the difficulties of those Gentiles who are turning to God,

They were bearers of the following letter--'The Apostles, and the Brothers who are the Officers of the Church, send their greetings to the Brethren of Gentile birth in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia.

However, as they set themselves against him and became abusive, Paul shook his clothes in protest and said to them: "Your blood be on your own heads. My conscience is clear. From this time forward I shall go to the Gentiles."

He came to see us, and, taking Paul's girdle, and binding his own feet and hands with it, said: "This is what the Holy Spirit says--'The man to whom this girdle belongs will be bound like this at Jerusalem by the Jews, and they will give him up to the Gentiles'."

After greeting them, Paul related in detail all that God had done among the Gentiles through his efforts;

As to the Gentiles who have become believers in Christ, we have sent our decision that they should avoid food offered to idols, and blood, and the flesh of strangled animals, and impurity."

But Jesus said to me 'Go; for I will send you to the Gentiles far away'."

Since I am choosing you out from your own people and from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you,

On the contrary, first to those at Damascus and Jerusalem, and then through the whole of Judea, and to the Gentiles as well, I began to preach repentance and conversion to God, and a life befitting that repentance.

That the Christ must suffer, and that, by rising from the dead, he was destined to be the first to bring news of Light, not only to our nation, but also to the Gentiles."

Understand, then, that this Salvation of God was sent for the Gentiles; and they will listen."

When Gentiles, who have no Law, do instinctively what the Law requires, they, though they have no Law, are a Law to themselves;

For, as Scripture says-'The name of God is reviled among the Gentiles because of you'!

Or can it be that God is the God only of the Jews? Is not he also the God of the Gentiles?

Yes, of the Gentiles also, since there is only one God, and he will pronounce those who are circumcised righteous as the result of faith, and also those who are uncircumcised on their showing the same faith.

And whom he called-even us-Not only from among the Jews but from among the Gentiles also!

What are we to say, then? Why, that Gentiles, who were not in search of righteousness, secured it-a righteousness which was the result of faith;

I ask then--'Was their stumbling to result in their fall?' Heaven forbid! On the contrary, through their falling away Salvation has reached the Gentiles, to stir the rivalry of Israel.

And, if their falling away has enriched the world, and their failure has enriched the Gentiles, how much more will result from their full restoration!

But I am speaking to you who were Gentiles.

Being myself an Apostle to the Gentiles, I exalt my office, in the hope that I may stir my countrymen to rivalry, and so save some of them.

Brothers, for fear that you should think too highly of yourselves, I want you to recognize the truth, hitherto hidden, that the callousness which has come over Israel is only partial, and will continue only till the whole Gentile world has been gathered in.

And that the Gentiles also may praise God for his mercy. As Scripture says--'Therefore will I make acknowledgment to thee among the Gentiles and sing in honor of thy Name.'

And again it says--'Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with God's People.'

And yet again--'Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles, and let all Peoples sing his praises.'

Again, Isaiah says--'There shall be a Scion of the house of Jesse, One who is to arise to rule the Gentiles; on him shall the Gentiles rest their hopes.'

Because of the charge with which God has entrusted me, that I should be a minister of Christ Jesus to go to the Gentiles--that I should act as a priest of God's Good News, so that the offering up of the Gentiles may be an acceptable sacrifice, consecrated by the Holy Spirit.

For I will not dare to speak of anything but what Christ has done through me to win the obedience of the Gentiles--

Yes, they were glad to do so; and indeed it is a duty which they owe to them. For the Gentile converts who have shared their spiritual blessings are in duty bound to minister to them in the things of this world.

Who risked their own lives to save mine. It is not I alone who thank them, but all the Churches among the Gentiles thank them also.

We are proclaiming Christ crucified!-to the Jews an obstacle, to the Gentiles mere folly,

There is a wide-spread report respecting a case of immorality among you, and that, too, of a kind that does not occur even among the Gentiles-a man, I hear, is living with his father's wife!

No; what I say is that the sacrifices offered by the Gentiles 'are offered to demons and to a Being who is no God,' and I do not want you to share with demons.

You know that there was a time when you were Gentiles, going astray after idols that could not speak, just as you happened to be led.

My journeys have been many. I have been through dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my own people, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in towns, dangers in the country, dangers on the sea, dangers among false Brothers.

Saw fit to reveal his Son in me, so that I might tell the Good News of him among the Gentiles, then at once, instead of consulting any human being,

It was in obedience to a revelation that I went; and I laid before the Apostles the Good News that I am proclaiming among the Gentiles. I did this privately before those who are thought highly of, for fear that I might possibly be taking, or might have already taken, a course which would prove useless.

On the contrary, they saw that I had been entrusted with the Good News for the Gentiles, just as Peter had been for the Jews.

For he who gave Peter power for his mission to the Jews gave me, also, power to go to the Gentiles.

Recognizing the charge entrusted to me, James, Peter, and John, who were regarded as pillars of the Church, openly acknowledged Barnabas and me as fellow-workers, agreeing that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the Jews.

Before certain persons came from James, he had been in the habit of eating with the Gentile converts; but, when they came, he began to withdraw and hold aloof, for fear of offending those who still held to circumcision.

But, when I saw that they were not dealing straightforwardly with the Truth of the Good News, I said to Peter, before them all, "If you, who were born a Jew, adopt Gentile customs, instead of Jewish, why are you trying to compel the Gentile converts to adopt Jewish customs?"

We, though we are Jews by birth and not outcasts of Gentile origin, know that no one is pronounced righteous as the result of obedience to Law, but only through faith in Christ Jesus.

And Scripture, foreseeing that God would pronounce the Gentiles righteous as the result of faith, foretold the Good News to Abraham in the words--'Through thee all the Gentiles shall be blessed.'

And this he did that the blessing given to Abraham might be extended to the Gentiles through their union with Jesus Christ; that so, through our faith, we also might receive the promised gift of the Spirit.

Remember, therefore, that you were once Gentiles yourselves, as your bodies showed; you were called 'The Uncircumcised' by those who were called 'The Circumcised'--circumcised only by the hand of man!

And in his human nature put an end to the cause of enmity between them--the Law with its injunctions and ordinances--in order to create, through union with himself, from Jew and Gentile, one New Man and thus make peace.

For it is through him that we, the Jews and the Gentiles, united in the one Spirit, are now able to approach the Father.

For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Jesus, the Christ, for the sake of you Gentiles--

That, by union with Christ Jesus and through the Good News, the Gentiles are co-heirs with us and members of one Body, and that they share with us in God's Promise.

Yes, to me, who am less than the least of all Christ's People, was this charge entrusted!--to tell the Gentiles the Good News of the boundless wealth to be found in the Christ,

This, then, as one in union with the Lord, I say to you and urge upon you: Do not continue to live such purposeless lives as the Gentiles live,

To whom it was his pleasure to make known the surpassing glory of that hidden Truth when proclaimed among the Gentiles--'Christ among you! Your Hope of glory!'

For they would prevent us from speaking to the Gentiles with a view to their Salvation, and thus are always 'filling up the measure of their iniquity.' But the Wrath of God has come upon them to the full!

And not for the mere gratification of his passions, like the Gentiles who know nothing of God;

and it was for this that I was myself appointed a Herald and an Apostle (I am telling the simple truth and no lie)--a Teacher of the Gentiles in the Faith and Truth.

Yes, and confessedly wonderful are the deep truths of our religion; for-- 'He was revealed in our nature, pronounced righteous in spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the Gentiles, believed on in the world, taken up into glory.'

But the Lord came to my help and strengthened me, in order that, through me, the proclamation should be made so widely that all the Gentiles should hear it; and I was rescued 'out of the Lion's mouth.'

Let your daily life among the Gentiles be so upright, that, whenever they malign you as evil-doers, they may learn, as they watch, from the uprightness of your conduct, to praise God 'at the time when he shall visit them.'

Surely in the past you have spent time enough living as the Gentiles delight to live. For your path has lain among scenes of debauchery, licentiousness, drunkenness, revelry, hard-drinking, and profane idolatry.

For it was on behalf of the Name that they left their homes, and refused to take anything from the Gentiles.