Verse from Acts

“All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.”

‭‭Acts‬ ‭2‬:‭4‬ ‭

An unusual thread—language—connects Acts 2 to the story of the tower of Babel. “The whole world had one language and a common speech,” says Genesis 11:1. The citizens of Babel said, “Let us build ourselves a city, . . . so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth” (v. 4). God “confuse[d] their language” (v. 7) and “scattered them from there over all the earth” (v. 8). At Pentecost (Acts 2), people from many different nations and languages miraculously heard the good news of Jesus in their own tongue. By giving people understanding instead of confusion, God reversed what He’d done at Babel. In Acts 1:8, Christ had said, “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Pentecost launched that worldwide mission of believers telling others of God’s love.