Acts 2:4

4 And they were all ¹filled with the Holy Spirit and began to ²speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance.

Acts 2:4 Meaning and Commentary

Acts 2:4

And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost
With the gifts of the Holy Spirit; they had received the Spirit before, as a Spirit of grace, and were endowed with great gifts; but now they had great plenty of them, a large abundance; they were like vessels filled to the brim; they were as it were covered with them; there was an overflow of them upon them; and now it was, that they were baptized with him; (See Gill on Acts 1:5). Not only the twelve apostles, but the seventy disciples; and it may be all the hundred and twenty, that were together, even women as well as men: ( Acts 2:17 Acts 2:18 ) .

And began to speak with other tongues;
besides, and different from that in which they were born and brought up, and usually spake; they spake divers languages, one spoke one language, and another, another; and the same person spoke with various tongues, sometimes one language, and sometimes another. These are the new tongues, Christ told them they should speak with, ( Mark 16:17 ) such as they had never heard, learned, nor known before:

as the Spirit gave them utterance;
they did not utter anything of themselves, and what came into their minds, things of little or no importance; nor in a confused and disorderly manner; but they were wise and weighty sentences they delivered, as the word signifies; even the wonderful works of God, ( Acts 2:11 ) the great doctrines of the Gospel; and though in different languages, yet in a very orderly and distinct manner, so as to be heard and understood by the people. The Vulgate Latin and Ethiopic versions read, "as the Holy Spirit"

Acts 2:4 In-Context

2 And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.

3 And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them.

4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance.

5 Now there were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven.

6 And when this sound occurred, the crowd came together, and were bewildered because each one of them was hearing them speak in his own language.

Cross References

• 1. Matthew 10:20; Acts 1:5, 8; Acts 4:8, 31; Acts 6:3, 5; Acts 7:55; Acts 8:17; Acts 9:17; Acts 11:15; Acts 13:9, 52
• 2. Mark 16:17; 1 Corinthians 12:10; 1 Corinthians 14:21

Footnotes

• [a] Or "languages"
• [b] Or "ability to speak out"