Acts 2:8

Verse

Berean Standard Bible

How is it then that each of us hears them in his own native language?

American Standard Version (1901)

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

Bible in Basic English

And how is it that every one of us is hearing their words in the language which was ours from our birth?

Douay-Rheims 1899

And how have we heard, every man our own tongue wherein we were born?

Free Bible Version

So how is it that we can all hear them speaking in our own mother tongue?

Geneva Bible 1599

How then heare we euery man our owne language, wherein we were borne?

King James (Authorized) Version

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

Plain English Version

so how come we can hear them talking in our own languages?

Translation for Translators

◄We(inc) do not understand how these men can speak our own native languages!/How can these men speak our own native languages?► [RHQ] But all of us hear them doing that

Unlocked Literal Bible

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

Noah Webster Bible

And how do we hear every man in our own language, wherein we were born?

World English Bible

How do we hear, everyone in our own native language?

Young's Literal Translation

and how do we hear, each in our proper dialect, in which we were born?

Context

The Holy Spirit at Pentecost

⁷Astounded and amazed, they asked, “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,

Summary

In Acts 2:8, the author describes how the people in Jerusalem were amazed and astonished to hear the disciples speaking in their own native languages. This event, known as the Day of Pentecost, marked the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the believers, enabling them to communicate the message of the Gospel to people from various regions and languages. The miraculous nature of this event demonstrated the power of God and His desire for all nations to hear the good news of Jesus Christ. It also symbolized the reversal of the language barrier that originated at the Tower of Babel, signifying the unity and universality of the Christian message.

Commentary

Adam Clarke
John Gill

Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

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 Co1 14:1, etc.