“There were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven.” Scattered to almost every part of the world, they had learned to speak various languages. Many of these Jews were in Jerusalem, attending the religious festivals. Every known tongue was represented. This diversity of languages would have greatly hindered the preaching of the gospel. So God miraculously did for the apostles what they could not have accomplished for themselves in a lifetime. Now they could accurately speak the languages of those for whom they were working—a strong evidence that their calling came from Heaven. From this time onward the language of the disciples was pure, simple, and accurate, whether in their native tongue or in a foreign language. ULe 16.5
The people were “amazed and marveled, saying one to another, ‘Look, are not all these who speak Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each in our own language?’” ULe 16.6
The priests and rulers were furious. They had put the Nazarene to death, but here were His servants telling the story of His life and ministry in all the languages then spoken. The priests claimed that they were drunk from the new wine prepared for the feast. But those who understood the different languages testified that the disciples spoke these languages accurately. ULe 16.7
In answer to the accusation, Peter showed that this fulfilled Joel’s prophecy. He said, “These are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: ULe 16.8
‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God,
That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh;
Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
Your young men shall see visions,
Your old men shall dream dreams.
And on My menservants and on My maidservants
I will pour out My Spirit in those days;
And they shall prophesy’” (See Joel 2:28, 29.) ULe 17.1