Acts 2:8

Act 2:8. Καὶ πῶς, and yet how) The period is concluded at Act 2:11. For the words, “How do we hear, each of us in our own tongue in which we were born,” which sound abrupt by themselves (with which comp. Act 2:6), are, after the long parenthesis, whereby the sense of the sentence is elegantly kept in suspense, resumed in these words, “We do hear them speak,” etc. The language is eminently suited to express wonder. Comp. what we have observed on such parentheses in our comment on Gregorii Thaum. Paneg. § 94. The apostles were representatives of a variety both of dialects, for instance, Pontic and Asiatic Greek, and of tongues.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Act 2:8 . τῇ ἰδίᾳ διαλ … ἐν ᾗ ἐγεννήθημεν used distributively as Act 2:11 ταῖς ἡμετ . γλώσσαις shows and hence cannot be taken to mean that only one language common to all, viz. , Aramaic, was spoken on the outpouring of the Spirit.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Not that they spake with one voice, and many languages were heard, but that the Apostles spake with strange tongues: for else the miracle had rather been in the hearers, whereas now it is in the speakers, Nazianzen in his oration of Whitsunday.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 8. How hear we every man in our own tongue] Some have supposed from this that the miracle was not so much wrought on the disciples as on their hearers: imagining that, although the disciples spoke their own tongue, yet every man so understood what was spoken as if it had been spoken in the language in which he was born. Though this is by no means so likely as the opinion which states that the disciples themselves spoke all these different languages, yet the miracle is the same, howsoever it be taken; for it must require as much of the miraculous power of God to enable an Arab to understand a Galilean, as to enable a Galilean to speak Arabic. But that the gift of tongues was actually given to the apostles, we have the fullest proof; as we find particular ordinances laid down by those very apostles for the regulation of the exercise of this gift; see 1Co 14:1, &c.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(8) And how hear we every man in our own tongue?—We have here, it is obvious, a composite utterance, in which the writer embodies the manifold expressions which came from those who represented the several nationalities that are afterwards enumerated.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

8. every man in our own tongue] i.e. language. There is no description here of any jargon or incoherent speech, we are told of utterances tested by the ears of those who had spoken these languages from their youth. The only question on which from St Luke’s description we are left in uncertainty is this: whether the disciples did or did not understand the new words which they were enabled to utter. The only other place in the New Testament which throws any light on this matter is St Paul’s first Epistle to the Corinthians. For a consideration of the expressions which St Paul there employs concerning these marvellous gifts, see note after Act_2:13.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And how hear we every man in our own tongue,.... Them speaking, as the Ethiopic version reads; that is, we everyone of us hear one or another, speak in the same language,

wherein we were born; our native language; for though these men were Jews by descent, yet were born and brought up in other countries, which language they spake; and not the Hebrew, or Syriac, or Chaldee.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

8 And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?

Ver. 8. Every man in our our tongue] Cleopatra was so skilful in the Eastern tongues that she could readily answer the Ethiopian, Hebrew, Arabian, Syrian, Median, Parthian ambassadors that came unto her; turning and tuning her tongue with ease (as an instrument of many strings, {a} saith Plutarch) to what dialect soever she listed.

{a} ωσπερ οργανον τι πολυχορδον

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Wherein we were born - That is, as we say, in our native language; what is spoken where we were born.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Διαλεκτος signifies commonly a different way of speaking, or pronouncing in the same language; as our southern, and northern men differ in some words and pronunciation, though speaking both the English tongue. God’s works being most perfect, the apostles might speak, not only the same language which all understood, but in the same idiom and propriety of speech which agreed to every one best.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

8. Wherein we were born—The tongue of the country of their birth. A Persian Jew understood Persic, an Egyptian one Coptic; just as an American Jew knows English, and in addition perhaps the vernacular Hebrew or Aramaic.

How shall we consider the house such as to admit so large an audience as this one hundred and twenty, three thousand devout hearers, and perhaps, five hundred mockers? We may figure an eastern structure (see fig., vol. i, pp. 121, 326) so built as to enclose a square central area, lined with galleries looking in upon the area from the four sides. The gathering crowds, called by the supernatural sound, fill the area and galleries; and from the most elevated gallery we conceive Peter as addressing the whole.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Language for tongue, A.V. Language. (dialektw, as in Act_1:19) It only occurs in the New Testament in the Acts, and may mean either language or dialect. Here it is properly rendered language, and is synonymous with glwssaiv in ver. 11.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

tongue

language.

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

8. E. g., while Peter was preaching in Greek the Parthian heard him in his native Chaldaic tongue, the Median, the Elamite and the Mesopotamian each heard in his own native dialect. And regardless of the language spoken by any One, every auditor heard in his own language. To human apprehension this was miraculous superfluity, as either of these miracles covered all the ground, and to our diagnosis precluded the necessity of the other. But in this double miracle we have a wonderful manifestation of the divine beneficence and the superabundance of redeeming grace (Rom 5:20). This double miracle largely accounts for the paradoxical efficiency of the gospel on that wonderful occasion when the world saw a brilliant prelude, adumbrating the ineffable glories of the coming kingdom.

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

See notes on verse 6

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Why is it that we are hearing them, each in our own language in which we were born?

Possible meanings are 1) this is a rhetorical question that expresses how amazed they were or 2) this is a real question for which the people wanted an answer. (See: Rhetorical Question)

in our own language in which we were born

"in our own languages that we have learned from birth"

Parthians ... Arabians

This lists some of the many nations, regions, and cities from which they came. (See: How to Translate Names)

proselytes

converts to the Jewish religion

translationWords

Medes

Elam

Mesopotamia

Judea

Pontus

Asia

Egypt

Cyrene

Rome

Crete

Arabia

might

works

God

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

8. τῇ ἰδίᾳ διαλέκτῳ. There is no description here of any jargon or incoherent speech. We are told of utterances tested by the ears of men who had spoken these languages from their youth. Cf. Chrysostom’s words οὐ γὰρ ἁπλῶς ἐλάλουν, ἀλλά τινα θαυμαστὰ ἔλεγον. The only question on which from St Luke’s description we are left in uncertainty is this: whether the disciples did or did not understand the new words which they were enabled to utter. The only other place in the New Testament which throws any light on this matter is St Paul’s 1st Epistle to the Corinthians. For a consideration of the expressions which St Paul there employs concerning these marvellous gifts, see note after Act 2:13.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

8-11.] This question is broken, in construction, by the enumeration of vv. 9, 10, and then ver. 11 takes up the construction again from ver. 8. As regards the catalogue itself,—of course it cannot have been thus delivered as part of a speech by any hearer on the occasion, but is inserted into a speech expressing the general sense of what was said, and put, according to the usage of all narrative, into the mouths of all. The words τῇ ἰδίᾳ διαλ. ἡμ. ἐν ᾗ ἐγεννήθημεν are very decisive as to the nature of the miracle. The hearers could not have thus spoken, had they been spiritually uplifted into the comprehension of some ecstatic language spoken by the disciples. They were not spiritually acted on at all, but spoke the matter of fact: they were surprised at each recognizing, so far from his country, and in the mouths of Galilæans, his own native tongue.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.