Acts 2 · Verse 8

Acts 2:8

And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?

Acts 2:8, King James Version

Acts 2:8 in other translations

BSB	How is it then that each of us hears them in his own native language?
WEB	How do we hear, everyone in our own native language?
ASV	And how hear we, every man in our own language wherein we were born?
YLT	and how do we hear, each in our proper dialect, in which we were born?
DARBY	and how do we hear them each in our own dialect in which we have been born,
BBE	And how is it that every one of us is hearing their words in the language which was ours from our birth?
Webster	And how do we hear every man in our own language, wherein we were born?

What does Acts 2:8 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Acts 2:5-11

5-11. there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men out of every nation--not, it would seem, permanently settled there (see Ac 2:9), though the language seems to imply more than a temporary visit to keep this one feast.

Read the full comment on Acts 2:5-11 →

Barnes' Notes

Verse 8. Wherein we were born. That is, as we say, in our native language; that which is spoken where we were born.

Albert Barnes, 1834 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 8 How hear we every man in our own tongue - Some have supposed from this that the miracle was not so much wrought on the disciples as on their hearers: imagining that, although the disciples spoke their own tongue, yet every man so understood what was spoken as if it had been spoken in the language in which he was born. Though this is by no means so likely as the opinion which states that the disciples themselves spoke all these different languages, yet the miracle is the same, howsoever it be taken; for it must require as much of the miraculous power of God to enable an Arab to understand a Galilean, as to enable a Galilean to speak Arabic. But that the gift of tongues was actually given to the apostles, we have the fullest proof; as we find particular ordinances laid down by those very apostles for the regulation of the exercise of this gift; see 1Cor 14:1, etc.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Acts 2:5-13

The difference in languages which arose at Babel, has much hindered the spread of knowledge and religion. The instruments whom the Lord first employed in spreading the Christian religion, could have made no progress without this gift, which proved that their authority was from God.

Read the full comment on Acts 2:5-13 →

Acts 2:8 in the original Greek

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

καὶkaiAndG2532

πῶςpōshowG4459

ἡμεῖςhēmeiswe ourselvesG3165

ἀκούομενakouomenhearG191

ἕκαστοςhekastoseachG1538

τῇtēain theG3588

ἰδίᾳidiaownG2398

διαλέκτῳdialektōlanguageG1258

ἡμῶνhēmōnof usG3165

ἐνeninG1722

ᾗhēwhichG3739

ἐγεννήθημεν,egennēthēmenwe were born?G1080

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Context

Acts 2:7
And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galileans?
Acts 2:8
And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?
Acts 2:9
Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia,

Read all of Acts 2

Acts 2:8 in other languages

Spanish Reina-Valera 1909	¿Cómo, pues, les oímos nosotros hablar cada uno en nuestra lengua en que somos nacidos?
French Bible J.N. Darby 1885	Et comment les entendons-nous, chacun dans son propre langage, celui du pays dans lequel nous sommes nés?
German Elberfelder 1871	Und wie hören wir sie, ein jeder in unserer eigenen Mundart, in der wir geboren sind:
Latin Clementine Vulgate	et quomodo nos audivimus unusquisque linguam nostram in qua nati sumus?