◀ All Reading Plans / New Testament in a Year / Acts 2:1-21 (New Catholic Bible)

Prev Day

June 15, 2015

Next Day

Use the calendar to view readings from this devotional.

June 2015
Su	Mo	Tu	We	Th	Fr	Sa
	1	2	3	4	5	6
7	8	9	10	11	12	13
14	15	16	17	18	19	20
21	22	23	24	25	26	27
28	29	30

Return to today's reading

New Testament in a Year

Read the New Testament from start to finish, from Matthew to Revelation.

Duration: 365 days

Acts 2:1-21

Pentecost^[a]

Chapter 2

Descent of the Spirit and Birth of the Church.^[b] ¹When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all assembled together in one place. ²Suddenly, there came from heaven a sound similar to that of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were sitting. ³Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which separated and came to rest on each one of them. ⁴All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different languages,^[c] as the Spirit enabled them to do so.

⁵Now staying in Jerusalem there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven. ⁶At this sound, a large crowd of them gathered, and they were bewildered because each one heard them speaking in his own language.

⁷They were astounded and asked in amazement, “Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? ⁸How is it then that each of us hears them in his own native language? ⁹Parthians, Medes, and Elamites, residents of Mesopotamia, Judea, and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, ¹⁰Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the districts of Libya around Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes,^[d] ¹¹Cretans and Arabs—we hear them speaking in our own languages about the mighty deeds of God.”

¹²They were all astounded and perplexed, and they said to one another, “What does all this mean?” ¹³However, others said mockingly, “They are filled with new wine.”

¹⁴Peter Preaches in the Name of the Twelve.^[e] Then Peter stood up with the Eleven and proclaimed to them in a loud voice, “Men of Judea and all you who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen carefully to my words. ¹⁵These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It is only nine o’clock in the morning.^[f] ¹⁶Rather, this is what was revealed through the prophet Joel:

¹⁷‘It will come to pass in the last days, God declares,
    that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh.
Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy;
    your young men shall see visions,
    and your old men shall dream dreams.
¹⁸Indeed, even upon my servants and my handmaids
    I shall pour out my Spirit in those days,
    and they shall prophesy.
¹⁹I will show portents in the sky above
    and signs on the earth below:
    blood and fire and billows of smoke.
²⁰The sun will be turned into darkness
    and the moon to blood
before the day of the Lord comes,
    that great and glorious day.
²¹Then it will come to pass
    that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’

Footnotes

Acts 2:1 For the first time, the witnesses come in contact with the crowd, which is made up of persons from all the nations. We are at the center of the world that is the starting point for a universal future.
Acts 2:1 The gift of the Spirit founds the Church as a living reality; Christ has prepared the way for the Church; the Spirit comes to take possession of her, to animate her, to help her with his charisms. Thus, for every community of believers, Pentecost is the feast of its own birth. The Spirit is “poured out” (see Acts 2:17) like rain, which is the source of life in an arid land; as Jesus had promised, there is a “baptism with the Spirit” (Acts 1:5).
The phenomena that accompany the event are rich in symbolism and also have a biblical meaning: they call to mind the theophanies, i.e., the manifestations of God to his people in order to change their anonymous destiny into a life-giving covenant (see Ex 19:18; Deut 4:9-24, 36; Ps 68).
Pentecost, which occurred fifty days after Passover, was the feast on which the firstfruits of the harvest were offered to God, but it was above all the feast of the covenant and of the gift of the Law.
Acts 2:4 Different languages: i.e., different from their usual language. The reference may also be to ecstatic language (see Mk 16:17; 1 Cor 14:2-23).
Acts 2:10 Proselytes: those who had accepted circumcision and the Jewish Law.
Acts 2:14 The author of Acts does not make up his discourses like the historians of antiquity, who liked to place their own thoughts and reactions on the lips of their subjects. In Luke’s view, the Word is decisive for the life of the community.
This sermon is the first; therefore, it has programmatic value in addition to its function in the immediate context. It proclaims the paschal event to all of Israel and even to distant peoples. The same fundamental pattern will recur in the other addresses of the apostles to the Jews.
Acts 2:15 Nine o’clock in the morning: literally, “the third hour.” See notes on Mt 27:35 and Mk 15:25.

New Catholic Bible (NCB)