Acts 2:3
New International Version
They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.

New Living Translation
Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them.

English Standard Version
And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them.

Berean Standard Bible
They saw tongues like flames of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.

Berean Literal Bible
And there appeared to them dividing tongues as of fire and sat upon each one of them.

King James Bible
And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.

New King James Version
Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them.

New American Standard Bible
And tongues that looked like fire appeared to them, distributing themselves, and a tongue rested on each one of them.

NASB 1995
And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them.

NASB 1977
And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them.

Legacy Standard Bible
And there appeared to them tongues like fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them.

Amplified Bible
There appeared to them tongues resembling fire, which were being distributed [among them], and they rested on each one of them [as each person received the Holy Spirit].

Christian Standard Bible
They saw tongues like flames of fire that separated and rested on each one of them.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
And tongues, like flames of fire that were divided, appeared to them and rested on each one of them.

American Standard Version
And there appeared unto them tongues parting asunder, like as of fire; and it sat upon each one of them.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And tongues like fire that were divided appeared to them, and they sat on each one of them.

Contemporary English Version
Then they saw what looked like fiery tongues moving in all directions, and a tongue came and settled on each person there.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And there appeared to them parted tongues as it were of fire, and it sat upon every one of them:

English Revised Version
And there appeared unto them tongues parting asunder, like as of fire; and it sat upon each one of them.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Tongues that looked like fire appeared to them. The tongues arranged themselves so that one came to rest on each believer.

Good News Translation
Then they saw what looked like tongues of fire which spread out and touched each person there.

International Standard Version
They saw tongues like flames of fire that separated, and one rested on each of them.

Literal Standard Version
and there appeared to them divided tongues, as it were of fire; it also sat on each one of them,

Majority Standard Bible
They saw tongues like flames of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.

New American Bible
Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them.

NET Bible
And tongues spreading out like a fire appeared to them and came to rest on each one of them.

New Revised Standard Version
Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them.

New Heart English Bible
Tongues like fire appeared and were distributed to them, and one sat on each of them.

Webster's Bible Translation
And there appeared to them, cloven tongues as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.

Weymouth New Testament
and they saw tongues of what looked like fire distributing themselves over the assembly, and on the head of each person a tongue alighted.

World English Bible
Tongues like fire appeared and were distributed to them, and one sat on each of them.

Young's Literal Translation
and there appeared to them divided tongues, as it were of fire; it sat also upon each one of them,

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Holy Spirit at Pentecost
2Suddenly a sound like a mighty rushing wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw tongues like flames of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.…

Cross References
Matthew 3:11
I baptize you with water for repentance, but after me will come One more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

Acts 2:2
Suddenly a sound like a mighty rushing wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.

Acts 2:4
And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.


Treasury of Scripture

And there appeared to them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat on each of them.

cloven.

Acts 2:4,11
And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance…

Genesis 11:6
And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.

Psalm 55:9
Destroy, O Lord, and divide their tongues: for I have seen violence and strife in the city.

like.

Isaiah 6:5
Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.

Jeremiah 23:29
Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?

Malachi 3:2,3
But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap: …

sat.

Acts 1:15
And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples, and said, (the number of names together were about an hundred and twenty,)

Isaiah 11:2,3
And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD; …

Matthew 3:15
And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him.

Jump to Previous
Alighted Appeared Assembly Asunder Cloven Distributed Distributing Divided Fire Flames Head Parted Parting Rest Rested Resting Sat Seemed Separated Themselves Tongue Tongues
Jump to Next
Alighted Appeared Assembly Asunder Cloven Distributed Distributing Divided Fire Flames Head Parted Parting Rest Rested Resting Sat Seemed Separated Themselves Tongue Tongues
Acts 2
1. The apostles, filled with the Holy Spirit, and speaking various languages,
12. are admired by some, and derided by others;
14. whom Peter disproves;
37. he baptizes a great number who were converted;
41. who afterwards devoutly and charitably converse together;
43. the apostles working many miracles,
46. and God daily increasing his church.














(3) Lastly, the Feast of Pentecost had--traditionally, at least--also a commemorative character. On that day--so it was computed by the later Rabbis, though the Book of Exodus (Exodus 19:1) seems to leave the matter in some uncertainty--the Israelites had encamped round Sinai, and there had been thunders and darkness and voices, and the great Laws had been proclaimed. It was, that is, an epoch-making day in the religious history of Israel. It was fit that it should be chosen for another great epoch-making day, which, seeming at first to be meant for Israel only, was intended ultimately for mankind.

Was fully come.--Literally, was being accomplished. The word seems chosen to express the fact that the meeting of the disciples was either on the vigil of the Feast-day, or in the early dawn. Assuming the Passover to have occurred on the night of the Last Supper, the Day of Pentecost would fall on the first day of the week, beginning, of course, at the sunset of the Sabbath. So the Churches of East and West have commemorated the day as on the eighth Sunday after Easter. In the Latin nations the name of Pentecost remains scarcely altered. The Pfingst of the Germans shows it still surviving in a very contracted form. Some eminent scholars have thought that our Whitsun-day represents it after a still more altered form, and that this is a more probable etymology of the word than those which connect it with the white garments worn on that day by newly-baptised converts, or with the gift of "wit, or wisdom."

With one accord in one place.--Probably in the same large upper room as in Acts 1:13. We may reasonably think of the same persons as being present. The hour, we may infer from Acts 2:15, was early in the morning, and probably followed on a night of prayer. It is said, indeed, that devout Jews used to solemnise the vigil of Pentecost by a special thanksgiving to God for giving His Law to Israel; and this may well have been the occasion that brought the disciples together (Sch�ttgen, Hor. Hebr. in Acts 2:1). It was, in the mystic language of the Rabbis, the night on which the Law, as the Bride, was espoused to Israel, as the Bridegroom. The frequent occurrence of the Greek word for "with one accord" (Acts 1:14; Acts 2:46; Acts 4:24; Acts 5:12) is significant as showing the impression made on the writer by the exceptional unity of the new society. Outside the Acts it is found only in Romans 15:16. . . .

Verse 3. - Tongues parting asunder for cloven tongues, A.V.; each one for each, A.V. There appeared. They had heard the sound, now they see the tongues of fire, and then they feel the Spirit working in them (see ver. 34). Tongues parting asunder. The idea of the cloven tongue, i.e. a tongue parted into two, which is thought to have been the origin of the miter, is not suggested either by the Greek or by the circumstances, and is clearly a mistaken one. Διαμεριζόμεναι means distributing themselves or being distributed. From the central apparition, or rather place of sound, they saw issuing forth many several tongues, looking like small flames of fire, and one such tongue sat upon each one of the brethren or disciples present. Each one. That Chrysostom is right ('Hom.'4.) in interpreting the each one of this verse of the hundred and twenty, and not of the twelve, and the ell in ver. 4 of all present besides the apostles, may be demonstrated. For not only must the all of ver. 1 refer to the same company as was described in the preceding chapter (vers. 15-26), but it is quite clear in ver. 15 of this chapter that Peter and the eleven (ver. 14), standing up separate from the body of the disciples, say of them, "These are not drunken, as ye suppose;" which is a demonstration that those of whom they thus spoke had been speaking with tongues (see also Acts 10:44). St. Augustine, too, says that the hundred and twenty all received the Holy Spirit. To the same effect Meyer, Wordsworth, Alford (who adds, "Not the hundred and twenty only, but all the believers in Christ then congregated at Jerusalem;" so also Lange). Farrar well remarks, "It was the consecration of a whole Church to be all of them a chosen generation, a royal priest- hood, a holy nation, a peculiar people" ('Life of St. Paul,' Acts 5.). Lange says, "Not only the apostles, but all the disciples, were filled with the Holy Ghost. There is a universal priesthood of all believers, and the Holy Ghost is the anointing which consecrates and qualifies for this priesthood" ('On the Acts,' Clark's edit., p. 67).

Parallel Commentaries ...


Greek
They
αὐτοῖς (autois)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Dative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
Strong's 846: He, she, it, they, them, same. From the particle au; the reflexive pronoun self, used of the third person, and of the other persons.

saw
ὤφθησαν (ōphthēsan)
Verb - Aorist Indicative Passive - 3rd Person Plural
Strong's 3708: Properly, to stare at, i.e. to discern clearly; by extension, to attend to; by Hebraism, to experience; passively, to appear.

tongues
γλῶσσαι (glōssai)
Noun - Nominative Feminine Plural
Strong's 1100: The tongue; by implication, a language.

like
ὡσεὶ (hōsei)
Adverb
Strong's 5616: As if, as it were, like; with numbers: about. From hos and ei; as if.

flames of a fire
πυρός (pyros)
Noun - Genitive Neuter Singular
Strong's 4442: Fire; the heat of the sun, lightning; fig: strife, trials; the eternal fire. A primary word; 'fire'.

that separated
διαμεριζόμεναι (diamerizomenai)
Verb - Present Participle Middle or Passive - Nominative Feminine Plural
Strong's 1266: To divide up into parts, break up; I distribute. From dia and merizo; to partition thoroughly.

and
καὶ (kai)
Conjunction
Strong's 2532: And, even, also, namely.

came to rest
ἐκάθισεν (ekathisen)
Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 2523: Another form for kathezomai; to seat down, i.e. Set; intransitively, to sit; figuratively, to settle.

on
ἐφ’ (eph’)
Preposition
Strong's 1909: On, to, against, on the basis of, at.

each
ἕκαστον (hekaston)
Adjective - Accusative Masculine Singular
Strong's 1538: Each (of more than two), every one. As if a superlative of hekas; each or every.

of them.
αὐτῶν (autōn)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Genitive Masculine 3rd Person Plural
Strong's 846: He, she, it, they, them, same. From the particle au; the reflexive pronoun self, used of the third person, and of the other persons.


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NT Apostles: Acts 2:3 Tongues like fire appeared and were distributed (Acts of the Apostles Ac)
Acts 2:2
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