Book of Common Prayer
Here comes the power
2 When the day of Pentecost had finally arrived, they were all together in the same place. 2 Suddenly there came from heaven a noise like the sound of a strong, blowing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 Then tongues, seemingly made of fire, appeared to them, moving apart and coming to rest on each one of them. 4 They were all filled with the holy spirit, and began to speak in other languages, as the spirit gave them the words to say.
New words for new news
5 There were devout Jews from every nation under heaven staying in Jerusalem at that time. 6 When they heard this noise they came together in a crowd. They were deeply puzzled, because every single one of them could hear them speaking in his or her own native language. 7 They were astonished and amazed.
“These men who are doing the speaking are all Galileans, aren’t they?” they said. 8 “So how is it that each of us can hear them in our own mother tongues? 9 There are Parthians here, and Medians, Elamites, people from Mesopotamia, Judaea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya that belong to Cyrene; there are people from Rome, 11 proselytes as well as Jews; there are Cretans and Arabs. We can hear them speaking about the powerful things God has done—in our own languages!”
12 Everyone was astonished and perplexed.
“What does it all mean?” they were asking each other.
13 But some sneered.
“They’re full of new wine!” they said.
It’s all coming true at last!
14 Then Peter got up, with the eleven. He spoke to them in a loud voice.
“People of Judaea!” he began. “All of you staying here in Jerusalem! There’s something you have to know! Listen to what I’m saying! 15 These people aren’t drunk, as you imagine. It’s only nine o’clock in the morning! 16 No, this is what the prophet Joel was talking about, when he said,
17 In the last days, declares God, I will pour out my spirit on all people.
Your sons and your daughters will prophesy;
your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams;
18 yes, even on slaves, men and women alike, will I pour out my spirit in those days, and they shall prophesy.
19 And I will give signs in the heavens above, and portents on earth beneath,
blood and fire and clouds of smoke.
20 The sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood,
before the day of the Lord comes, the great and glorious day.
21 And then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Marriage and the resurrection
27 Some of the Sadducees came to Jesus to put their question. (The Sadducees deny that there is any resurrection.)
28 “Teacher,” they said, “Moses wrote for us that ‘if a man’s brother dies, leaving a widow but no children, the man should marry the widow and raise up a family for his brother.’ 29 Well, now: there were seven brothers; the eldest married a wife, and died without children. 30 The second 31 and the third married her, and then each of the seven, and they died without children. 32 Finally the woman died as well. 33 So, in the resurrection, whose wife will the woman be? The seven all had her as their wife.”
34 “The children of this age,” replied Jesus, “marry and are given in marriage. 35 But those who are counted worthy of a place in the age to come, and of the resurrection of the dead, don’t marry, and they are not given in marriage. 36 This is because they can no longer die; they are the equivalent of angels. They are children of God, since they are children of the resurrection.
37 “But when it comes to the dead being raised, Moses too declares it, in the passage about the burning bush, where scripture describes the Lord as ‘the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ 38 God is God, not of the dead, but of the living. They are all alive to him.”
39 “That was well said, Teacher,” commented some of the scribes, 40 since they no longer dared ask him anything else.
Scripture quotations from The New Testament for Everyone are copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011, 2018, 2019.