Acts 2:4
in Acts 2And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
KJV
And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
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This verse in Acts 2
Commentary
7 notes on this verseLet us consider what kind of men our holy preachers were when this day found them, and what kind it made them. Certainly those who were sitting in one room out of fear of the Jews knew each one the language of their birth, and yet they did not presume to speak openly of Christ even in that language which they knew. The Spirit came, and in their mouths taught them through the diversity of tongues, while in their minds he strengthened them with authority.
This site's exposition
the day of Pentecost
on Acts 2:1-4
The day of Pentecost was fully come: fifty days from the firstfruits sheaf, the feast of the wheat harvest, and in the synagogue's own reckoning the anniversary of Sinai, so that the bench old and new reads the scene's echoes deliberately, wind and fire on the mount, now wind and fire on the house. The sound as of a rushing mighty wind and the cloven tongues like as of fire are both similes, as of, like as, the text careful that these are signs of the Spirit's coming, not the Spirit himself. They were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance: the promise of 1:5 and 1:8 lands, and the speaking is the Spirit's gift working through their mouths, the first act of the empowered church being praise in languages it never learned.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost,.... With the gifts of the Holy Spirit; they had received the Spirit before, as a Spirit of grace, and were endowed with great gifts; but now they had great plenty of them, a large abundance; they were like vessels filled to the brim; they were as it were covered with them; there was an overflow of them upon them; and now it was, that they were baptized with him; See Gill on Act 1:
And this family praising God together, with the tongues of all the world, was an earnest that the whole world should in due time praise God in their various tongues. As the Spirit gave them utterance - Moses, the type of the law, was of a slow tongue; but the Gospel speaks with a fiery and flaming one.
(2.) A very proper, needful, and serviceable miracle. The language the disciples spoke was Syriac, a dialect of the Hebrew; so that it was necessary that they should be endued with the gift, for the understanding both of the original Hebrew of the Old Testament, in which it was written, and of the original Greek of the New Testament, in which it was to be written.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
To speak with other tongues - At the building of Babel the language of the people was confounded; and, in consequence of this, they became scattered over the face of the earth: at this foundation of the Christian Church, the gift of various languages was given to the apostles, that the scattered nations might be gathered; and united under one shepherd and superintendent (επισκοπος) of all souls. As the Spirit gave them utterance - The word αποφθεγγεσθαι seems to imply such utterance as proceeded from immediate inspiration, and included oracular communications.
on Acts 2:2-4
FROM the descent of the Holy Spirit at the beginning we may learn something concerning His operations at the present time. Remember at the outset that whatever the Holy Spirit was at the first, He is that now, for as God, He remains forever the same—whatever He did then He is able to do still, for His power is by no means diminished. As says the Prophet Micah, "O you that are named the house of Jacob, is the Spirit of the Lord straitened?"
How the passage was read
On Acts 2:1-13On Acts 2:1-13
The feast the crowd came for
Pentecost is the Greek name (“fiftieth”) for the feast the Torah calls Weeks, in Hebrew Shavuot: kept fifty days after Passover, when the firstfruits of the wheat harvest were brought to God (Leviticus 23:15–17). That is why devout Jews “from every nation under heaven” fill Jerusalem in this chapter: it was a pilgrimage feast, one of the three yearly appearances.
Jewish tradition also came to keep Shavuot as the anniversary of the giving of the Torah at Sinai; the Talmud states plainly that it is “the day on which the Torah was given” (Pesachim 68b). The synagogue still reads Ruth, the harvest-season story of a Gentile grafted into Israel, at this feast by long custom. On that day, in that city, the Spirit was given and three thousand were gathered in: the resonance is the reader's to weigh.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Sources: Leviticus 23:15–17 (the fifty days and the wheat firstfruits) · Pesachim 68b (“the day the Torah was given”) · Rema on Shulchan Arukh OC 490 (Ruth read at Shavuot)
The words behind it
16 Greek wordsEvery Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Greek | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| καὶ | kai | And | G2532 → | 9120 times |
| ἐπλήσθησαν | eplesthesan | they were filled with | G4130 → | 24 times |
| πάντες | pantes | all | G3956 → | 1235 times |
| πνεύματος | pneumatos | Spirit | G4151 → | 378 times |
| ἁγίου | hagiou | Holy | G40 → | 220 times |
| καὶ | kai | and | G2532 → | 9120 times |
| ἤρξαντο | erxanto | began | G757 → | 85 times |
| λαλεῖν | lalein | to speak | G2980 → | 294 times |
| ἑτέραις | heterais | in other | G2087 → | 97 times |
| γλώσσαις | glossais | tongues | G1100 → | 49 times |
| καθὼς | kathos | even as | G2531 → | 182 times |
| τὸ | to | the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| πνεῦμα | pneuma | Spirit | G4151 → | 378 times |
| ἐδίδου | edidou | was giving | G1325 → | 412 times |
| ἀποφθέγγεσθαι | apophthengesthai | to utter forth | G669 → | 3 times |
| αὐτοῖς.¶ | autois | to them. | G846 → | 5565 times |
καὶAnd
kaiG2532 →9120 times
ἐπλήσθησανthey were filled with
eplesthesanG4130 →24 times
πάντεςall
pantesG3956 →1235 times
πνεύματοςSpirit
pneumatosG4151 →378 times
ἁγίουHoly
hagiouG40 →220 times
καὶand
kaiG2532 →9120 times
ἤρξαντοbegan
erxantoG757 →85 times
λαλεῖνto speak
laleinG2980 →294 times
ἑτέραιςin other
heteraisG2087 →97 times
γλώσσαιςtongues
glossaisG1100 →49 times
καθὼςeven as
kathosG2531 →182 times
τὸthe
toG3588 →19766 times
πνεῦμαSpirit
pneumaG4151 →378 times
ἐδίδουwas giving
edidouG1325 →412 times
ἀποφθέγγεσθαιto utter forth
apophthengesthaiG669 →3 times
αὐτοῖς.¶to them.
autoisG846 →5565 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Mark 16:17And these signs will accompany those who believe: In My name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues;
it leads to
- Acts 5:16
Crowds also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those tormented by unclean spirits, and all of them were healed.
- 1 Corinthians 12:28
And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, and those with gifts of healing, helping, administration, and various tongues.
- Luke 10:17
The seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in Your name.”
- Acts 8:7
With loud shrieks, unclean spirits came out of many who were possessed, and many of the paralyzed and lame were healed.
- John 14:12
Truly, truly, I tell you, whoever believes in Me will also do the works that I am doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.
- Acts 5:16
Through
Ephesians 5:18Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to reckless indiscretion. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.
it leads to
- Luke 1:15
for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He shall never take wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother’s womb.
- Proverbs 20:1
Wine is a mocker, strong drink is a brawler, and whoever is led astray by them is not wise.
- Romans 13:13
Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy.
- Luke 1:15
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies25
On this chapter
- Afterlife Vocabulary
- Baptism in the Holy Spirit (the Acts Evidence)
- The Twelve
- The Deity of Christ
- The Fall Feasts
- The Hebrew Feasts
- Fire
- Head Coverings
- The Messianic Psalms
- Miracles of Jesus
- The 153 Fish
- Pentecost
- The Suffering Servant
- The Church
- The Day of the LORD: yom YHWH
- The Intertestamental Period
- The Jewish Day and the Watches of the Night
- The Promise of the Father
- The Right Hand
- The Sects of Second Temple Judaism
- Water Baptism
About Acts
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 1619: “The Pentecostal Wind and Fire” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); Gregory the Dialogist, Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 30; John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Acts of the Apostles; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); John Lightfoot, Horae Hebraicae et Talmudicae; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.