Acts 2:1-21
Filled with the Spirit
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 people 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, “Fellow Jews 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 ῾Αγίου, καὶ ἤρξαντο λαλεῖν ἑτέραις γλώσσαις καθὼς τὸ Πνεῦμα ἐδίδου αὐτοῖς ἀποφθέγγεσθαι.
[5] ῏Ησαν δὲ ἐν ῾Ιερουσαλὴμ κατοικοῦντες ᾿Ιουδαῖοι, ἄνδρες εὐλαβεῖς ἀπὸ παντὸς ἔθνους τῶν ὑπὸ τὸν οὐρανόν·
[6] γενομένης δὲ τῆς φωνῆς ταύτης συνῆλθε 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 ᾿Ελαμῖται, καὶ οἱ κατοικοῦντες τὴν Μεσοποταμίαν, ᾿Ιουδαίαν τε καὶ Καππαδοκίαν, Πόντον καὶ τὴν ᾿Ασίαν,
[10] Φρυγίαν τε καὶ Παμφυλίαν, Αἴγυπτον καὶ τὰ μέρη τῆς Λιβύης τῆς κατὰ Κυρήνην, καὶ οἱ ἐπιδημοῦντες ῾Ρωμαῖοι, ᾿Ιουδαῖοί τε καὶ προσήλυτοι,
[11] Κρῆτες καὶ ῎Αραβες, 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 ᾿Ιουδαῖοι καὶ οἱ κατοικοῦντες ῾Ιερουσαλὴμ ἅπαντες, τοῦτο ὑμῖν γνωστὸν ἔστω καὶ ἐνωτίσασθε τὰ ῥήματά μου.
[15] οὐ γάρ, ὡς ὑμεῖς ὑπολαμβάνετε, οὗτοι μεθύουσιν· ἔστι γὰρ ὥρα τρίτη τῆς ἡμέρας·
[16] ἀλλὰ τοῦτό ἐστι τὸ εἰρημένον διὰ τοῦ προφήτου ᾿Ιωήλ·
[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 μεταστραφήσεταιεἰς 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 first thing that may strike us is St Luke’s lavish use of quantifiers– ἅπαντες/ ‘all without exception’(1, 4, 14), ὅλον/ ‘whole, entire’(2), ἕνα ἕκαστον/ ‘each one separately, each singly’(3, cf. 6, 8), πάντες/ ‘all’(7, 12)—in his description of the collective and the individual experience of the Holy Ghost at Pentecost. He is alternately taking long shots and close-ups, as it were, as the gift of tongues spreads across the assembled Jews. Fullness is a key motif in the lection about the theophany of Pentecost.
A list of the reference works cited:
Aerakis = Δ. Γ. Αεράκη, Οι Πράξεις των Αποστόλων, τεύχος Α′.
Blass-Debr.- Funk = F. Blass, & A. Debrunner, A Greek Grammar of the New Testament and other early Christian literature, 9th edn, tr. & revsd R. W. Funk, Cambridge University & Chicago, 1961.
Bruce = F. F. Bruce, The Acts of the Apostles, Greek text with introduction & commentary, 3rd revsd & enlarged edn, Grand Rapids, MI & Leicester, UK.
EDNT = Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament, 3 vols, eds, H. Balz & G. Schneider, Grand Rapids, MI, 1990-3 (orig. Stuttgart, 1978-83).
LSJ = H. G. Liddell, R. Scott, H. S. Jones, A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th edn, with new Supplement, Oxford, 1996 (available online).
Montanari = F. Montanari, The Brill Dictionary of Ancient Greek, 3rd edn, Leiden, Boston, 2013.
Muraoka = T. Muraoka, Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, Louvain, Paris, Walpole, MA, 2009.
[1] ἐν τῷ συμπληροῦσθαι: συμπληρόω, ‘fill up’; ‘complete’ (cl. Gk: LSJ s.v., II. 1 &2). Bruce, p. 113 notes ad loc. that συμπληροῦσθαι ‘is used in LXX to express the completion of a period.’
The inf. becomes the equivalent of a substantive (noun) when it is construed with a prep. (‘articular inf.’). ἐν τῷ + inf. is chiefly Lukan, the present tense of the inf. is commonly used, and the sense is usually temporal (‘while’). Thus here = ‘while the day of Pentecost was being completed’. This usage is attested in LXX and is prob. a Hebraism; but Bruce, loc. cit., considers it ‘characteristic of historical writers from second century B.C. to first century AD.’
ἅπαντες ὁμοθυμαδὸν: ἅπαντες, ‘all without exception’; ὁμοθυμαδὸν, ‘unanimously, by consent’ (cl. Gk prose: Montanari s.v.); πάντες ὁμοθυμαδὸν (‘all together’) occurs in Xenophon and Plato. Luke goes one better by using ἅπαντες ὁμοθυμαδὸν, ‘absolutely all together’.
The ideas of completion, unanimity, and togetherness are sounded already from v. 1, and will be echoed by a number of related verbs in the next vv.
[2] ἄφνω: ‘suddenly’, ‘unexpectedly’ (cl. Gk poetry & prose: LSJ & Montanari s.v.). The adv. refers to the emergence of the ἦχος, ‘sound’.
ὥσπερ: the rel. adv. ‘just as’ introduces a simile as also in v. 3.
ἐπλήρωσεν ὅλον τὸν οἶκον: 3rd pers. sg., aor., πληρόω (the simplex form), ‘fill, fill up’, e.g. jugs (in cl. Gk). The vb is used figuratively here. (Cf. the cmpd συμπληρόω in v. 1.)
[3] διαμεριζόμεναι: a pres. part., ‘being distributed’. ἐφ᾿ ἕνα ἕκαστον αὐτῶν modifies the part. δ., defining the manner of distribution of the tongues.
The adj. ἕκαστον, ‘each’, places stress on ἕνα; the meaning is ‘each one separately, i.e. one after another’ as in Hdt 4.67.1, ἐπὶ μίαν ἑκάστην ῥάβδον (Montari s.v., F [cardinal εἷς with prep.]). There is an implied contrast between the individual recipients of the Holy Spirit and their totality (ἅπαντες). Cf. v. 6, εἷς ἕκαστος, ‘each one, each singly’; v. 17, ἐπὶ πᾶσαν σάρκα and v. 18, ἐπὶ τοὺς δούλους μου καὶ ἐπὶ τὰς δούλας μου.
[4] ἐπλήσθησαν ἅπαντες Πνεύματος ῾Αγίου: ἐπλήσθησαν, 3rd pers. pl., aor. pass., πίπλαμαι, ‘be filled, be full of’, c. gen. rei (already in Homer). Cf. v.2 ἐπλήρωσεν ὅλον τὸν οἶκον, ‘filled the whole house’. Fullness and fulfilment are key motifs in the passage. ‘Everyone without exception was filled with Spirit Holy’. Note that ‘Spirit’ initially is indefinite (Πνεύματος ῾Αγίου).
ἀποφθέγγεσθαι: ἀποφθέγγομαι, mid., ‘make an (oracular) pronouncement’, Lucian Alex. 25 and LXX (Montanari & Muraoka s.v.). In v. 14, ἀπεφθέγξατο refers to Peter delivering his first oration. All those endowed with glossolalia did more than ‘express themselves, talk’– they spoke in an oracular mode.
[6] φωνῆς ταύτης: ‘of this sound (or noise)’ as opposed to λόγος, οr articulate speech; the demonstrative pron. ταύτης refers back to the sound of foreign languages in v. 4. The flood of foreign speech blurs into noise– or (on first impression) babble!
συνεχύθη: 3rd pers. sg., aor., pass. συγχέομαι, ‘I am confounded, confused’, a fig. meaning as the vb lit. means ‘I am poured together’ (of liquids). συνεχύθη here denotes the shocked confusion of the multitude. In Gen. 6:7 God punishes the builders of the tower of Babel by ‘mixing up’ (συγχέομεν) their unitary language. Cf. 6, εἷς ἕκαστος, i.e. ‘one by one’.
[7] ἐξίσταντο δὲ πάντες καὶ ἐθαύμαζον: ἐξίσταμαι, pass., ‘I am beside myself with amazement or fear’, a late, fig. meaning attested in LXX (see Montanari s.v. ἐξίστημι, B; Muraoka & EDNT s.v.).Cf. Engl. ecstasy.
ἐθαύμαζον, ‘they were amazed, astonished’. The tautology (i.e. the repetition of the same idea) brings out the awe felt by everyone, as Aerakis, p. 44 also remarks. Cf. v. 12, ἐξίσταντο δὲ πάντες καὶ διηπόρουν.
οὐκ ἰδοὺ πάντες οὗτοί εἰσιν οἱ λαλοῦντες Γαλιλαῖοι;: οὐκ ἰδοὺ (in some MSS οὐχ ἰδοὺ, see Bruce, p. 116 ad loc.) is the equivalent of the interrogative particles ἆρ’ οὐ. This combination indicates that the question is intense and anticipates a ‘Yes’ answer.
[10] οἱ ἐπιδημοῦντες ῾Ρωμαῖοι: ‘the Roman residents’, ‘the Romans resident’. These presumably are Jews returned from Rome. The phrase has been mistranslated by some as ‘visitors’.
[13] γλεύκους μεμεστωμένοι: γλεῦκος, τὸ, ‘sweet new wine’ (cl. Gk: LSJ s.v.). μεμεστωμένοι, 3rd pers. pl., pass. pf. part., μεστόομαι, ‘I am filled or full of’, c. gen. rei (cl. Gl: LSJ s.v.). Another vb denoting fullness, but this time it is not the Holy Ghost that figuratively fills but literally the potent wine!
[14] Σταθεὶς δὲ Πέτρος: Σταθεὶς, part. aor. pass., ἵστημι, intr., ‘stand’; so here = ‘standing’, referring to St Peter before the multitude. This is a performative physical detail that describes Peter’s speech act. Cf. Acts 17:22, Σταθεὶς δὲ ὁ Παῦλος ἐν μέσῳ τοῦ ᾿Αρείου πάγου ἔφη, of St Paul’s stance as he addresses the Areopagus.
[17] καὶ ἔσται ἐν ταῖς ἐσχάταις ἡμέραις: ‘A Hebraism (cf. v. 21 ),rendered “And it shall come to pass that … ” in the older English versions’ (Bruce, p. 121 ad loc.).
ἐκχεῶ ἀπὸ τοῦ πνεύματός μου ἐπὶ πᾶσαν σάρκα: ἐκχεῶ, koine fut. ἐκχέω, ‘I pour out’, prop. of liquids (LSJ s.v. I.a). Cf. the cmpd συγχέω, v. 6 above.
πᾶσα σάρξ, LXX equivalent of the pron. ‘everybody’ (Muraoka s.v.2). ‘Everybody’ in v. 17 is broken down into intergenerational groups of males and females in the same verse, and then summed up in v. 18, ἐπὶ τοὺς δούλους μου καὶ ἐπὶ τὰς δούλας μου.
[18] προφητεύσουσι: fut., προφητεύω, lit. ‘speak (cf. φημί) on behalf of (προ-) οf a god’ (LSJ s.v. I); ‘prophesy’ (in NT). Here the vb sums up the activities listed in v. 17.
Insights into Biblical Greek Grammar and Syntax 