Acts 2:3

2:3 And tongues spreading out like a fire ¹  appeared to them and came to rest on each one of them.

Acts 2:37

The Response to Peter’s Address

2:37 Now when they heard this, ²  they were acutely distressed ³  and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “What should we do, brothers?”

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¹ tn Or “And divided tongues as of fire.” The precise meaning of διαμερίζομαι (diamerizomai) in Acts 2:3 is difficult to determine. The meaning could be “tongues as of fire dividing up one to each person,” but it is also possible that the individual tongues of fire were divided (“And divided tongues as of fire appeared”). The translation adopted in the text (“tongues spreading out like a fire”) attempts to be somewhat ambiguous.

² tn The word “this” is not in the Greek text. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek, but must be supplied for the modern English reader.

³ tn Grk “they were pierced to the heart” (an idiom for acute emotional distress).