Αcts of the Apostles 2:1-21
2:1 When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.
2:2 And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.
2:3 Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them.
2:4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.
2:5 Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem.
2:6 And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each.
2:7 Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans?
2:8 And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language?
2:9 Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,
2:10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes,
2:11 Cretans and Arabs–in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.”
2:12 All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?”
2:13 But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.”
2:14 But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say.
2:15 Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning.
2:16 No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:
2:17 ‘In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.
2:18 Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy.
2:19 And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and smoky mist.
2:20 The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day.
2:21 Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’
1 Καὶ ἐν τῷ συμπληροῦσθαι τὴν ἡμέραν τῆς πεντηκοστῆς ἦσαν ἅπαντες ὁμοθυμαδὸν ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτό.
2 Καὶ ἐγένετο ἄφνω ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ἦχος ὥσπερ φερομένης πνοῆς βιαίας, καὶ ἐπλήρωσεν ὅλον τὸν οἶκον οὗ ἦσαν καθήμενοι·
3 καὶ ὤφθησαν αὐτοῖς διαμεριζόμεναι γλῶσσαι ὡσεὶ πυρός, ἐκάθισέ τε ἐφ᾿ ἕνα ἕκαστον αὐτῶν,
4 καὶ ἐπλήσθησαν ἅπαντες Πνεύματος Ἁγίου, καὶ ἤρξαντο λαλεῖν ἑτέραις γλώσσαις καθὼς τὸ Πνεῦμα ἐδίδου αὐτοῖς ἀποφθέγγεσθαι.
5 Ἦσαν δὲ ἐν Ἱερουσαλὴμ κατοικοῦντες Ἰουδαῖοι, ἄνδρες εὐλαβεῖς ἀπὸ παντὸς ἔθνους τῶν ὑπὸ τὸν οὐρανόν·
6 γενομένης δὲ τῆς φωνῆς ταύτηςσυνῆλθε τὸ πλῆθος καὶ συνεχύθη, ὅτι ἤκουον εἷς ἕκαστος τῇ ἰδίᾳ διαλέκτῳ λαλούντων αὐτῶν.
7 Ἐξίσταντο δὲ πάντες καὶ ἐθαύμαζον λέγοντες πρὸς ἀλλήλους· οὐκ ἰδοὺ πάντες οὗτοί εἰσιν οἱ λαλοῦντες Γαλιλαῖοι;
8 Καὶ πῶς ἡμεῖς ἀκούομεν ἕκαστος τῇ ἰδίᾳ διαλέκτῳ ἡμῶν ἐν ᾗ ἐγεννήθημεν,
9 Πάρθοι καὶ Μῆδοι καὶ Ἐλαμῖται, καὶ οἱ κατοικοῦντες τὴν Μεσοποταμίαν, Ἰουδαίαν τε καὶ Καππαδοκίαν, Πόντον καὶ τὴν Ἀσίαν,
10 Φρυγίαν τε καὶ Παμφυλίαν, Αἴγυπτον καὶ τὰ μέρη τῆς Λιβύης τῆς κατὰ Κυρήνην, καὶ οἱ ἐπιδημοῦντες Ρωμαῖοι, Ἰουδαῖοί τε καὶ προσήλυτοι,
11 Κρῆτες καὶ Ἄραβες, ἀκούομεν λαλούντων αὐτῶν ταῖς ἡμετέραις γλώσσαις τὰ μεγαλεῖα τοῦ Θεοῦ;
12 Ἐξίσταντο δὲ πάντες καὶ διηπόρουν, ἄλλος πρὸς ἄλλον λέγοντες· τί ἂν θέλοι τοῦτο εἶναι;
13 Ἕτεροι δὲ χλευάζοντες ἔλεγον ὅτι γλεύκους μεμεστωμένοι εἰσί.
14 Σταθεὶς δὲ Πέτρος σὺν τοῖς ἕνδεκα ἐπῆρε τὴν φωνὴν αὐτοῦ καὶ ἀπεφθέγξατο αὐτοῖς· ἄνδρες Ἰουδαῖοι καὶ οἱ κατοικοῦντες Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἅπαντες, τοῦτο ὑμῖν γνωστὸν ἔστω καὶ ἐνωτίσασθε τὰ ρήματά μου.
15 Οὐ γάρ, ὡς ὑμεῖς ὑπολαμβάνετε, οὗτοι μεθύουσιν· ἔστι γὰρ ὥρα τρίτη τῆς ἡμέρας·
16 ἀλλὰ τοῦτό ἐστι τὸ εἰρημένον διὰ τοῦ προφήτου Ἰωήλ·
17 καὶ ἔσται ἐν ταῖς ἐσχάταις ἡμέραις, λέγει ὁ Θεός, ἐκχεῶ ἀπὸ τοῦ πνεύματός μου ἐπὶ πᾶσαν σάρκα, καὶ προφητεύσουσιν οἱ υἱοὶ ὑμῶν καὶ αἱ θυγατέρες ὑμῶν, καὶ οἱ νεανίσκοι ὑμῶν ὁράσεις ὄψονται καὶ οἱ πρεσβύτεροι ὑμῶν ἐνύπνια ἐνυπνιασθήσονται·
18 καί γε ἐπὶ τοὺς δούλους μου καὶ ἐπὶ τὰς δούλας μου ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις ἐκείναις ἐκχεῶ ἀπὸ τοῦ πνεύματός μου, καὶ προφητεύσουσι.
19 Καὶ δώσω τέρατα ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ ἄνω καὶ σημεῖα ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς κάτω, αἷμα καὶ πῦρ καὶ ἀτμίδα καπνοῦ·
20 ὁ ἥλιος μεταστραφήσεται εἰς σκότος καὶ ἡ σελήνη εἰς αἷμα πρὶν ἢ ἐλθεῖν τὴν ἡμέραν Κυρίου τὴν μεγάλην καὶ ἐπιφανῆ.
21 Καὶ ἔσται πᾶς ὃς ἂν ἐπικαλέσηται τὸ ὄνομα Κυρίου σωθήσεται.
Comments
The passage begins with words expressing ‘fullness’ and ‘completion’, then there is burst of sound, speech, and confusion, all denoted by appropriate verbs. The pericope ends in prophecy.
[1] συμπληροῦσθαι: συμπληρῶ (όω) c. acc. means ‘to fill up’, fill completely’. σ., the present passive infinitive, is used figuratively here. (The simple form πληρῶ can be used fig. of time in cl. Greek, e.g. τοὺς χρόνους π.) The prepositional phrase, ἐν + τῷ συμπληροῦσθα (articular inf.) means lit. ‘in the completion’. The Engl. tr. (‘When the day of Pentecost had come’) does not do justice to the notion of ‘fullness’, ‘fulfilment’.
ὁμοθυμαδὸν: ‘with one mind’ (ὁμοῦ + θυμός), cl. Greek.
[2] ἦχος: a post-cl. form (perh. already koine); here, ‘sound’. Cf. Engl. echo.
ἐπλήρωσεν ὅλον τὸν οἶκον: ἐπλήρωσεν, aor. < πληρῶ (όω), ‘fill full of’; cf. the cmpd συμ-πληρῶ (όω) (v.1).
ὅλον τὸν οἶκον: the adj. ὅλος, η ον = ‘whole, entire, complete in its parts’ (LSJ). The sound rushed through every room of the house.
[3] γλῶσσαι: γλῶσσα (fem.), ‘tongue’, ‘language’; the meaning here is ‘languages’. Cf. vv. 4, 11.
ἐκάθισέ τε : ‘and (sc. a tongue) rested/ sat’. The (enclitic) conjunction τε on its own joins this sentence to the preceding one. This particular use of τε is characteristic of poetry, e.g. Homer, but can occur in classical and later prose.
[4] ἐπλήσθησαν ἅπαντες Πνεύματος Ἁγίου: ἐπλήσθησαν, aor. pass. of πίμπλημι, c. gen. rei, ‘I fill full of’; the pass. πίμπλαμαι = ‘I am filled, am full of’, fig. as here.
ἐδίδου αὐτοῖς ἀποφθέγγεσθαι: ἐδίδου, lit., ‘was giving, gave’ (impf.); the Spirit transfers or gifts an ability, namely that of ἀποφθέγγεσθαι, an inf. < ἀποφθέγγομαι, a late verb meaning ‘express myself’ (Montanari), ‘declare loudly’ (Exeg. Dict. NT, s.v.). Cf. v. 14. The preverb ἀπο- recalls the Engl. ‘de’ in ‘declaim’, and suggests clarity or loudness.
[6] φωνῆς: φωνή (fem.) = ‘sound’, ‘voice’. Here φ. is the loud sound of voices. Cf. Engl. phonetic, tele-phone.
συνεχύθη: pass. aor., ‘became confused’ < συγχέω, ‘I confuse’ ( a cl. vb); Ex. Dict. NT also gives the alternative form, συγχύννω.
τῇ ἰδίᾳ διαλέκτῳ: διάλεκτος (fem.) is properly a ‘vernacular dialect’, so used by Aristotle. ἴδιος- ἰδία-ἴδιον = ‘one’s own’, ‘peculiar to one’. Cf. v. 8.
[13] γλεύκους μεμεστωμένοι εἰσί: another vb of ‘filling up’; < μεστῶ (όω), ‘fill full of’, c. gen. rei; in the NT only the pass. (‘be full of’) occurs.
γλεῦκος (n.), ‘new wine, not fully fermented’ (Montanari), hence very young. It is sweet (cf. γλυκύς).
τέρατα ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ ἄνω καὶ σημεῖα ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς κάτω: two parallel phrases with contrasting members, which serve to universalise the extent of the ‘signs and wonders’ performed by God. τέρατα καὶ σημεῖα is an LXX phrase (Exeg. Dict. NT Gr, s.v. τέρας, p. 350).
In Homer τέρας = ‘portent’, ‘omen’, ‘prodigy’—essentially a σημεῖον, or ‘sign’ sent from the gods. In post-Homeric poetry and prose, τ. can mean ‘monster’. The LXX always use τέρας of God’s astonishing deeds.
Insights into Biblical Greek Grammar and Syntax 