The Coming of the Holy Spirit

¹When fthe day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. ²And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like ga mighty rushing wind, and hit filled the entire house where they were sitting. ³And divided tongues ias of fire appeared to them and rested1 on each one of them. ⁴And they were all jfilled with the Holy Spirit and began kto speak in other tongues las the Spirit gave them utterance.

⁵Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. ⁶And mat this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. ⁷And nthey were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking oGalileans? ⁸And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? ⁹Parthians and pMedes and qElamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, ¹⁰Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, ¹¹both Jews and rproselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.” ¹²And sall were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” ¹³But others tmocking said, “They are filled with new wine.”

Peter's Sermon at Pentecost

¹⁴But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them: “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. ¹⁵For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, usince it is only the third hour of the day.2 ¹⁶But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel:

¹⁷v“‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares,

wthat I will pour out my Spirit xon all flesh,

and your sons and yyour daughters shall prophesy,

and your young men shall see visions,

and your old men shall dream dreams;

¹⁸even on my male servants and female servants

in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and zthey shall prophesy.

¹⁹And I will show wonders in the heavens above

and signs on the earth below,

blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke;

²⁰athe sun shall be turned to darkness

and the moon to blood,

before bthe day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day.

²¹And it shall come to pass that ceveryone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’

²²“Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, da man attested to you by God ewith fmighty works and wonders and signs that gGod did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know— ²³this Jesus,3 hdelivered up according to ithe definite plan and jforeknowledge of God, kyou crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. ²⁴lGod raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because mit was not possible for him to be held by it. ²⁵For David says concerning him,

n“‘I saw the Lord always before me,

for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken;

²⁶therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced;

my flesh also will dwell oin hope.

²⁷For you will not abandon my soul to pHades,

qor let your rHoly One ssee corruption.

²⁸You have made known to me the paths of life;

you will make me full of gladness with your presence.’

²⁹“Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about tthe patriarch David uthat he both died and vwas buried, and whis tomb is with us to this day. ³⁰xBeing therefore a prophet, and knowing that yGod had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, ³¹he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that zhe was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. ³²This Jesus aGod raised up, band of that we all are witnesses. ³³cBeing therefore dexalted at the right hand of God, and having received from ethe Father fthe promise of the Holy Spirit, ghe has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. ³⁴For hDavid did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says,

i“‘The Lord said to my Lord,

“Sit at my right hand,

³⁵until I make your enemies your footstool.”’

³⁶Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that jGod has made him kboth Lord and Christ, this Jesus lwhom you crucified.”

³⁷Now when mthey heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, nwhat shall we do?” ³⁸And Peter said to them, o“Repent and pbe baptized every one of you qin the name of Jesus Christ rfor the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive sthe gift of the Holy Spirit. ³⁹For tthe promise is for you and ufor your children and for all vwho are far off, everyone wwhom the Lord our God calls to himself.” ⁴⁰And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, x“Save yourselves from this ycrooked generation.” ⁴¹So those who received his word were baptized, and zthere were added that day about three thousand souls.

The Fellowship of the Believers

⁴²And athey devoted themselves to the apostles' bteaching and the cfellowship, to dthe breaking of bread and the prayers. ⁴³And awe4 came upon every soul, and emany wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. ⁴⁴And all who believed were together and fhad all things in common. ⁴⁵And fthey were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. ⁴⁶And day by day, gattending the temple htogether and ibreaking bread in their homes, they received their food jwith glad and generous hearts, ⁴⁷praising God and khaving favor with all the people. And the Lord ladded to their number mday by day those who nwere being saved.

Peter and John Before the Council

¹And as they were speaking to the people, the priests and lthe captain of the temple and mthe Sadducees came upon them, ²greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming nin Jesus the resurrection from the dead. ³And they arrested them and oput them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. ⁴But many of those who had heard the word believed, and pthe number of the men came to about five thousand.

⁵On the next day their rulers and elders and scribes gathered together in Jerusalem, ⁶with qAnnas the high priest and rCaiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family. ⁷And when they had set them in the midst, they inquired, s“By what power or tby what name did you do this?” ⁸Then Peter, ufilled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, ⁹if we are being examined today vconcerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, ¹⁰let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that wby the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, xwhom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well. ¹¹yThis Jesus1 is the stone that was zrejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone.2 ¹²And there is asalvation bin no one else, for cthere is no other dname under heaven given among men3 by which we must be saved.”

¹³eNow when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus. ¹⁴But seeing the man who was healed fstanding beside them, gthey had nothing to say in opposition. ¹⁵But when they had commanded them to leave the council, they conferred with one another, ¹⁶saying, h“What shall we do with these men? For that ia notable sign has been performed through them is evident to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. ¹⁷But in order that it may spread no further among the people, let us warn them jto speak no more to anyone in this name.” ¹⁸So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. ¹⁹But Peter and John answered them, k“Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, ²⁰for lwe cannot but speak of what mwe have seen and heard.” ²¹And when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way to punish them, nbecause of the people, for all were praising God ofor what had happened. ²²For the man on whom this sign of healing was performed was more than forty years old.

The Believers Pray for Boldness

²³When they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them. ²⁴And when they heard it, they lifted their voices ptogether to God and said, “Sovereign Lord, qwho made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, ²⁵who through the mouth of our father David, your servant,4 said by the Holy Spirit,

r“‘Why did the Gentiles rage,

and the peoples plot in vain?

²⁶The kings of the earth set themselves,

and sthe rulers were gathered together,

against the Lord and against his tAnointed’5—

²⁷for truly in this city there were gathered together against your uholy servant Jesus, vwhom you anointed, both wHerod and xPontius Pilate, along ywith the Gentiles and zthe peoples of Israel, ²⁸ato do whatever your hand and byour plan had predestined to take place. ²⁹And now, Lord, clook upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all dboldness, ³⁰while eyou stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed fthrough the name of your gholy servant Jesus.” ³¹And when they had prayed, hthe place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and ithey were all filled with the Holy Spirit and jcontinued to speak the word of God with boldness.

They Had Everything in Common

³²Now the full number of those who believed were of kone heart and lsoul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but mthey had everything in common. ³³And with great npower the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and ogreat grace was upon them all. ³⁴pThere was not a needy person among them, for qas many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold ³⁵and rlaid it at the apostles' feet, and sit was distributed to each as any had need. ³⁶Thus Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas (which means tson of encouragement), a Levite, a native of Cyprus, ³⁷sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and ulaid it at the apostles' feet.