God supernaturally enabled the Galilean disciples to speak the many languages of the international Jewish crowd at Pentecost.
The crowd was made up of devout Jews who had come from Jewish communities scattered throughout the known world, while the speakers were ordinary Galilean fishermen. Les Feldick explains that God gave them a miraculous gift of languages so every listener heard the message in his own native tongue.
Acts 2:7-8 — The crowd itself marveled that Galileans could be heard in every listener's own language, showing this was a supernatural linguistic miracle.
According to Acts 2:5, the people in Jerusalem were "devout men, out of every nation under heaven." Verse 6 says that when the multitude came together, "every man heard them speak in his own language." Verse 7 records the crowd's astonishment: "Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans?" Verse 8 then gives the explanation: "And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?" The passage goes on in verse 11 to list people from Crete and Arabia who said, "we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God." Scripture presents the event as known human languages, not unintelligible sounds.
Les Feldick begins by emphasizing that Pentecost was a Jewish event. The crowd was not a gathering of Gentiles; it was composed of Jews who had come from Jewish communities scattered throughout the known world. Many of these Jews had been displaced from Israel for generations and had adopted the languages of the Gentile nations where they lived — from Babylon, Spain, and elsewhere (Clip 1). Les compares this to immigrant families in America, where children learn the parents' native language first and only after two or three generations lose that mother tongue and adopt the local language (Clip 0).
The Bible says the crowd consisted of "Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven" (Acts 2:5). Les Feldick explains that these were Jewish people whose families had lived for generations among Gentile nations and had picked up the languages of those places. They came from places like Babylon and Spain, and they were not Gentiles. In fact, Les emphasizes that "Gentiles had nothing to do with Pentecost; it was Jewish."
Les Feldick teaches that the miracle was that God gave the apostles the ability to speak all the languages of the people in the massive crowd in front of them. Every man heard them speak "not in an unknown guttural noise, but in a language that they could understand." Les says this is the first time in Scripture that the Holy Spirit gave men this gift of speaking known languages that were not intrinsic to their own education.
Scripture records the crowd asking, "Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans?" (Acts 2:7) because Peter and most of the disciples came from Galilee. Les Feldick points out that these twelve men were "common ordinary Galileans," not highly educated and not highly cultured. Yet they had been with the Lord for three years and were now speaking all of these languages down to the local dialect so these people could understand every word.
Yes. Les Feldick says the listeners heard known languages, not ecstatic noise. In the same way, when the Holy Spirit later fell on the household of Cornelius, Les notes that the proof was that Gentiles spoke in known languages that the Jewish visitors could understand. The Scripture itself says every man heard them speak in his own tongue, wherein he was born (Acts 2:8).
Jewish Communities Adopted Gentile Languages
Jews dispersed among Gentile nations picked up those nations' languages over generations, just like immigrant groups that eventually lose their mother tongue.
Pentecost Crowd Was Jewish, From Many Nations
Les stresses that Pentecost was Jewish; the crowd consisted of Jews displaced from Israel for generations, coming from places like Babylon and Spain and speaking different languages.
Supernatural Gift of Known Languages
God supernaturally gave the Galilean apostles the ability to speak all the languages of the crowd; they spoke understandable languages, not unknown noise, and this was the first such manifestation in Scripture.
Languages Were Known Human Languages
In a later Gentile context, Les also notes the Spirit-given languages were known languages spoken to men, not ecstatic or unknown sounds.
Ordinary Galileans Speaking Every Dialect
Les highlights that these twelve men were common, ordinary, uneducated Galileans—not highly cultured—yet they spoke all those languages down to local dialects because they had been with the Lord for three years.
What the Bible Really Says About Speaking in Tongues
They were like Peter, they had recognized that Jesus was the Christ. So these believing Jews were astonished. Now we pointed this all out when we taught the book of Acts, that these Jews, the six men who came with Peter for a total of seven, were just utterly astonished that these Gentiles were hearing a salvation message and believing it.
Why Did the Holy Spirit Fall BEFORE Baptism? Acts 10
Well, if this was a common occurrence, what's there to be surprised about? But this was something that's never happened before. Gentiles? See? Now, I even have my own idea about proselytes, but I'm not going to get into any arguments, so I'm not going to say it. But anyway, these Gentiles were so shocking to these believing Jews that they'd never seen anything like this before.
Why Paul Went to Arabia: The Revelation of Grace
And how many people wouldn't get the idea that as soon as Christ left the scene, the twelve went all over the world preaching the gospel. No, they didn't. They stayed in Jerusalem, and even the believing Jews that were scattered because of the persecution preached to nobody but Jews. They had no idea that God was going to go to a Gentile. That was anathema to them. Now, read on.
Acts 2:5: And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven.
This shows the crowd was made up of Jews from throughout the known world, not just local residents.
Acts 2:6: Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language.
The miracle is that each listener heard the Galileans speaking his own language.
Acts 2:7: And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans?
The crowd's surprise was directly tied to the fact that the speakers were Galileans.
Acts 2:8: And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?
This verse makes clear the languages were the native languages of the listeners.
Acts 2:11: Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.
The response of people from Crete and Arabia confirms that actual known languages were being spoken.
No. Les Feldick emphasizes that Pentecost was a Jewish event. The crowd consisted of devout Jews who had come from Jewish communities scattered throughout the known world, not a gathering of Gentiles.
They spoke known human languages and local dialects that the visiting Jews could understand. Les Feldick says it was not an unknown guttural noise, but real languages that every man heard in his own tongue.
Because Peter and most of the disciples came from Galilee. They were uneducated fishermen and not highly cultured, which made the miracle even more striking—they spoke all these languages by supernatural gift from God.
Watch the Teaching: What Really Happened at Pentecost? Acts 2 Explained