Acts 2:5-7

Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven.  When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans?

From Background Notes [BN] for March 10^th/11^th written by Pastor Bob Brown:

All of these Jewish worshippers had been in Jerusalem for the feast of Passover and its sequel, Šavuot (Pentecost).

Traveling considerable distances, these representatives of the diaspora — the scattered ones — came together to renew their covenantal vows as Jews and as the people of God. But on this particular celebration of Šavuot, a miracle took place: the single language of simple Aramaic speaking Jews suddenly became a pluralism of dialects. This was no accidental sign. God was “pouring out his Spirit on all people” (Acts 2: 17), and the language-event described in the text was the reliable witness to that fact. What is more interesting is that the traditional view of the rabbis included the notion that when Yahweh gave the Torah on Mount Sinai, He not only gave it in Hebrew but also gave it in seventy languages so that no one might have an excuse for not knowing what God had said.  Thus, the miracle of languages for the early followers of Jesus became a new sign that the Holy Spirit’s gift is for the nations, to the “near and far” (Acts 2:39).  [BN, 1]

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