And they were all amazed, and wondered, saying: Behold, are not all these that speak Galilean?
εξισταντο δε παντες και εθαυμαζον λεγοντες προς αλληλους ουκ ιδου παντες ουτοι εισιν οι λαλουντες γαλιλαιοι
7 Church Fathers comment on this verse
Immediately they turned their eyes toward the Apostles. "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans?" This was well said, for it means that they acknowledged it. The sound struck them to such a degree that people from most of the inhabited world gathered there.
The Apostles inspired by God, who at the feast of Pentecost manifested the gift of tongues in praise of God, amazed the people gathered around them. Devout Jews had come to Jerusalem for the feast from various countries of the world, from Asia, Africa, and Europe, from every historical nation under heaven. Suddenly they heard Galileans, men not naturally distinguished by knowledge of languages, speaking in various languages, and they were amazed (verse 7). In perplexity and confusion they said among themselves: 'Are not all these who speak Galileans?' (verse 8). 'How then do we hear from their mouths each our own native language, in which and with which we were born? (verse 9).
We Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, (verse 10) Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene. There are also among us visitors from Rome, Jews and proselytes, (verse 11) Cretans and Arabs. We hear them speaking in our languages, preaching the great works of God.'
The people of many different languages who were then in Jerusalem heard the sound that had come down from heaven in the house where Christ's disciples were. They immediately gathered there to learn what had happened. When they had assembled there, the sacred historian writes, they were confounded, that is, amazed, hearing the Apostles speaking in each one's native language. At first they were thrown into confusion by such wondrous hearing. Then they were seized with awe and astonishment and asked one another: Are not these men, who speak so many different languages among themselves, all Galileans, that is, men who do not know our languages? How then does each of us hear his own language from their mouths?
The writer of Acts does not describe in detail the outward setting of the event he recounts here. From his account it is not clear how a crowd of thousands (Acts 2:41) could see and hear the believers upon whom the Holy Spirit descended while they were in a house. Very possibly there was a large square before the house where the Apostles were staying, and the people gathered there. When the believers saw the people streaming toward them, with praises and hymns on their lips, they went out onto the flat roof of the house where they were. It is natural to suppose that, being filled with holy joy, they desired and hastened to proclaim before other people the glory of God revealed in them. Yet the writer of Acts does not concern himself with this. He directs his attention chiefly to the disposition of soul with which the gathered people met the extraordinary miraculous event.
Meanwhile the people, struck by the extraordinary events that had occurred, were thrown into confusion and hastened to the house where the Apostles enlightened by God were staying. The Apostles came out of the house. Their eyes shone like lightning, piercing the crowds, and joyfully surveyed those immeasurable masses. These masses represented a rich harvest for the laborers and builders of the Kingdom of Christ.
Then they began inspired speech. It poured irresistibly from their mouths, formed of words in which each word was their heart, their embodied faith and love for their heavenly Teacher. What were the most famous orators of the classical world before them? They composed their speeches according to the rules of art, speeches animated only by their poor vanity. The inspired speeches of the Apostles thundered like thunder shaking mountains. They acted with the force of a hammer breaking rocks. Countless crowds listened in silence to the wondrous speeches. They marveled more at these speeches than at the dread manifestations that had drawn them there.
Under the first irresistible impression of these speeches, the masses of the people did not notice their miraculous outward feature. They only felt that these speeches were extraordinary. They felt that they pierced to the marrow and burned the listeners' hearts like fire. But when the first impression had passed, the multilingual masses looked at one another to share what they had experienced. Then they noticed with amazement that each had heard the speeches just delivered in his own native language. From astonishment, everyone's face seemed to freeze.
How could this be? The Egyptian, who until then had prided himself that his language was known only to those born in the land of the pyramids, now heard his own language. The Greek and the Roman, who considered their language the possession only of educated men, also heard each his own language. And from whom? From these ignorant, obscure, poor Galileans, whose very name sounded contemptuous. At first their silent amazement began to express itself in words and exclamations. A murmur of exclamations and questions ran through the masses. All turned to one another for an explanation of the mysterious event. 'Are not all these who speak Galileans?' they asked one another in astonishment. 'And how do we hear, each in our own native language, how we hear them speaking in our languages of the great works of God? And again all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another: What does this mean?'
'They were amazed and marveled' is an intensified expression of wonder at the sight of an unusual, unexpected, and inexplicable event. 'Are not all these Galileans?' That is, are they not by origin from one known part of Palestine, where one known dialect is spoken? Moreover, it was known that this province was not especially renowned for learning. In this sense, a Galilean means an unenlightened, uneducated, untrained man. Thus those gathered wondered how these men, who by origin and place of dwelling spoke one known dialect, and who were uneducated and had not studied other languages, could speak in various languages and dialects. They wondered how each of those gathered heard from the mouths of Galileans his own dialect.
'So many years are needed, with the help of grammar and other sciences, to learn to speak only Greek well. Yet not all speak alike. A rhetor may know how to speak well, while a grammarian sometimes will not speak well. One who has learned grammar does not yet know philosophy. But the Holy Spirit teaches many languages at once, languages wholly unknown to those taught by Him,' says Cyril of Jerusalem.
'Are not all?' No doubt among the assembly of Christ's disciples there were also disciples not from Galilee, but from Judea and certainly from Jerusalem. Perhaps there were also some from other regions who had come for the feast. Yet it was known in Jerusalem that the Lord's closest disciples were from Galilee (cf. Mt 26:73), and that many of His followers were chiefly in Galilee (Jn 7:52). Therefore those gathered now call all the Lord's disciples by this common name.
Astonishment and wonder seized those who saw the miracle of speaking in other languages. This miracle will be striking unto the ages. At that time it was intensified by the fact that most of the Apostles were from Galilee, whose inhabitants were not renowned for learning. For this reason they were even held in some contempt (see Mk 14:70). The astonishment was universal and so strong that all involuntarily tried to learn and understand from one another how and why this had happened. Here it was first revealed that those now speaking in various unknown languages were almost all Galileans (see Mt 26:73). They usually spoke only their native Hebrew language, with certain admixtures from neighboring Aramaic and Syriac dialects. Those living in Judea spoke a purer language.
Yet at this time even the representatives of enlightened Jerusalem seemed not to recognize the Galileans. They too heard the Apostles speaking as they themselves, native Judeans, spoke. They did not hear them speaking as ordinary inhabitants of dark Galilee, far removed from the center of learning. This is exactly how the Judeans present there, mentioned in verse 9, could have spoken together with the others. They too were struck and amazed by the gift of language, wondrous, extraordinary, and astonishing for all alike.
Passages read together with this verse.
Greek text, 13 words with lemma, transliteration and Strong’s number. Tap to expand.
THEOSIS