Acts 2:8
in Acts 2How is it then that each of us hears them in his own native language?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And how hear we, every man in our own language wherein we were born?
KJV
And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?
⋯
This verse in Acts 2
Commentary
10 notes on this verseThey spoke with strange tongues, and not those of their native land; and the wonder was great, a language spoken by those who had not learnt it. And the sign is to them that believe not, and not to them that believe, that it may be an accusation of the unbelievers, as it is written, With other tongues and other lips will I speak unto this people, and not even so will they listen to Me saith the Lord. But they heard. Here stop a little and raise a question, how you are to divide the words.
This site's exposition
from every nation under heaven
on Acts 2:5-8
The speakers are known Galileans, yet each one heard them speaking his own language. The scene answers Babel in Genesis 11: there one language was scattered, and here the nations are gathered to hear.
This site's exposition
his own native language
Adam Clarke reports a view that the miracle worked on the hearers, who understood the disciples' own speech as if it were their native language. Gregory of Nazianzus holds that the disciples spoke foreign tongues they had never learned. Matthew Henry pictures each nation hearing one disciple speak its tongue.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
Long after the old ark had overcome the waters of the sea, malicious people wished to extend their tower [of Babel] into heaven. In them, irreligious hearts divided the forms of their speech, and the good will in these arrogant confederates perished with their voice. …
The multitude was perplexed or disturbed, for reasonably they supposed that wondrous things were being shown to them, on account of the bold deeds done concerning Christ, and conscience troubled their souls. And some were murderous in this way; but the devout ones were amazed, …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
And how hear we every man in our own tongue,.... Them speaking, as the Ethiopic version reads; that is, we everyone of us hear one or another, speak in the same language, wherein we were born; our native language; for though these men were Jews by descent, yet were born and brought up in other countries, which language they spake; and not the Hebrew, or Syriac, or Chaldee.
), that is, we hear one or other of them speak our native language. The Parthians hear one of them speak their language, the Medes hear another of them speak theirs; and so of the rest;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
The sermon which Peter preached to them hereupon, wherein he shows that this pouring out of the Spirit was the accomplishment of an Old-Testament promise (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
How hear we every man in our own tongue - Some have supposed from this that the miracle was not so much wrought on the disciples as on their hearers: imagining that, although the disciples spoke their own tongue, yet every man so understood what was spoken as if it had been spoken in the language in which he was born.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Wherein we were born - That is, as we say, in our native language; what is spoken where we were born.
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
12 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 |
| πῶς | pos | how | G4459 → | 103 times |
| ἡμεῖς | hemeis | we ourselves | G3165 → | 1936 times |
| ἀκούομεν | akouomen | hear | G191 → | 425 times |
| ἕκαστος | hekastos | each | G1538 → | 81 times |
| τῇ | tea | in the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| ἰδίᾳ | idia | own | G2398 → | 114 times |
| διαλέκτῳ | dialekto | language | G1258 → | 6 times |
| ἡμῶν | hemon | of us | G3165 → | 1936 times |
| ἐν | en | in | G1722 → | 2738 times |
| ᾗ | he | which | G3739 → | 1405 times |
| ἐγεννήθημεν, | egennethemen | we were born? | G1080 → | 97 times |
καὶAnd
kaiG2532 →9120 times
πῶςhow
posG4459 →103 times
ἡμεῖςwe ourselves
hemeisG3165 →1936 times
ἀκούομενhear
akouomenG191 →425 times
ἕκαστοςeach
hekastosG1538 →81 times
τῇin the
teaG3588 →19766 times
ἰδίᾳown
idiaG2398 →114 times
διαλέκτῳlanguage
dialektoG1258 →6 times
ἡμῶνof us
hemonG3165 →1936 times
ἐνin
enG1722 →2738 times
ᾗwhich
heG3739 →1405 times
ἐγεννήθημεν,we were born?
egennethemenG1080 →97 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies54
On this chapter
- Afterlife Vocabulary
- Baptism in the Holy Spirit (the Acts Evidence)
- The Twelve
- Bread
- David
- David, a Type of Christ
Show the next 6 titles
- Dreams in Scripture and in Egypt
- The Fall Feasts
- The Hebrew Feasts
- Fire
- Father, Forgive Them
- God and the Nations, from Abraham to the New Jerusalem
Show the next 6 titles
- Head Coverings
- The Words Tiqvah and Elpis
- How Prophecy Works
- Infant Baptism and Believers' Baptism
- Jesus on the Holy Spirit
- Joel, the Study Guide
Show the next 6 titles
- Joel 2:28-32 in Acts 2
- Locusts in Scripture
- Mesopotamia
- The Messianic Psalms
- Miracles of Jesus
- The 153 Fish
Show the next 6 titles
Show the next 6 titles
About Acts
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Arator, ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 1; Gregory of Nazianzus, ON PENTECOST, ORATION 41.15; J. A. Alexander, The Acts of the Apostles Explained; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Oecumenius, Commentary on Acts.