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New Testament Reading - Pentecost

¹Seven weeks had gone by since Jesus’ death and resurrection, and the Day of Pentecost had now arrived. As the believers met together that day, ²suddenly there was a sound like the roaring of a mighty windstorm in the skies above them and it filled the house where they were meeting. ³Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on their heads. ⁴And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in languages they didn’t know,^b for the Holy Spirit gave them this ability.

⁵Many godly Jews were in Jerusalem that day for the religious celebrations, having arrived from many nations. ⁶And when they heard the roaring in the sky above the house, crowds came running to see what it was all about, and were stunned to hear their own languages being spoken by the disciples.

⁷“How can this be?” they exclaimed. “For these men are all from Galilee, ⁸and yet we hear them speaking all the native languages of the lands where we were born! ⁹Here we are — Parthians, Medes, Elamites, men from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia Minor, ¹⁰Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, the Cyrene language areas of Libya, visitors from Rome — both Jews and Jewish converts — ¹¹Cretans, and Arabians. And we all hear these men telling in our own languages about the mighty miracles of God!”

¹²They stood there amazed and perplexed. “What can this mean?” they asked each other.

1. This annual celebration came fifty days after the Passover ceremonies, when Christ was crucified. See Leviticus 23:16.
2. Literally, “in other tongues.”