Acts 2:18

18 et quidem super servos meos et super ancillas meas in diebus illis effundam de Spiritu meo et prophetabunt

Acts 2:18 Meaning and Commentary

Acts 2:18

And on my servants, and on my handmaidens
In Joel it is only the servants and the handmaids; and which Kimchi interprets of strangers that should stand in the land of Israel, and serve the Israelites. But these phrases do not seem so much to describe the civil state and condition of those persons, as their religious character, being such as were brought, by the power of divine grace, to yield a cheerful obedience to the will of God; though it may also regard the former, and show, that with God there is no distinction and difference of bond or free, of rich or poor; contrary to a maxim of the Jews F19, that the Shekinah does not dwell but upon a wise man, a mighty man, and a rich man.

I will pour out, in those days, of my Spirit, and they shall
prophesy;
see the note on the preceding verse, from whence this clause, "and they shall prophesy", is repeated; for it is not in the text in Joel; which is done to point at the end and effect of the Spirit being poured down upon them.


FOOTNOTES:

F19 T. Bab. Sabbat, fol. 92. 1.

Acts 2:18 In-Context

16 sed hoc est quod dictum est per prophetam Iohel
17 et erit in novissimis diebus dicit Dominus effundam de Spiritu meo super omnem carnem et prophetabunt filii vestri et filiae vestrae et iuvenes vestri visiones videbunt et seniores vestri somnia somniabunt
18 et quidem super servos meos et super ancillas meas in diebus illis effundam de Spiritu meo et prophetabunt
19 et dabo prodigia in caelo sursum et signa in terra deorsum sanguinem et ignem et vaporem fumi
20 sol convertetur in tenebras et luna in sanguinem antequam veniat dies Domini magnus et manifestus
The Latin Vulgate is in the public domain.