Acts 2:1-20

¹In the course of the Festival at the close of the Harvest the disciples had all met together,

²when suddenly there came from the heavens a noise like a strong wind rushing by; it filled the whole house in which they were sitting.

³Then there appeared tongues of what seemed to be flame, separating, so that one settled on each of them;

⁴and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak in different languages as the Spirit prompted their utterances.

⁵Now there were then staying in Jerusalem religious Jews from every country in the world;

⁶and, when this sound was heard, numbers of people collected, in the greatest excitement, because each of them heard the disciples speaking in his own language.

⁷They were utterly amazed, and kept asking in astonishment, “What! Are not all these people who are speaking Galileans?

⁸Then how is it that we each of us hear them in our own language?

⁹Some of us are Parthians, some Medes, some Elamites; and some of us live in Mesopotamia, in Judea and Cappadocia, in Pontus and Roman Asia,

¹⁰in Phrygia and Pamphylia, in Egypt and the districts of Libya adjoining Cyrene; some of us are visitors from Rome,

¹¹either Jews by birth or converts, and some are Cretans and Arabians — yet we all alike hear them speaking in our own languages of the great things that God has done.”

¹²They were all utterly amazed and bewildered. “What does it mean?” they asked one another.

¹³But there were some who said with a sneer, “They have had too much new wine.”

¹⁴Then Peter, surrounded by the eleven other apostles, stood up, and, raising his voice, addressed the crowd. “People of Judea,” he began, “and all you who are staying in Jerusalem, let me tell you what this means. Mark well my words.

¹⁵These people are not drunk, as you suppose; for it is only now nine in the morning! No!

¹⁶This is what is spoken of in the prophet Joel —

¹⁷‘It will come about in the last days,’ God says, ‘That I will pour out my Spirit on all humanity; Your sons and your daughters will become prophets, Your young men will see visions, And your old men dream dreams;

¹⁸Yes, even on the slaves — for they are mine — both men and women, I will in those days pour out my Spirit, And they will become prophets;

¹⁹And I will show wonders in the heavens above, And signs on the earth below — Blood and fire and mist of smoke;

²⁰The sun will become darkness, And the moon blood-red, Before the day of the Lord comes — that great and awful day.