Acts 2:3-4

2:3 And tongues spreading out like a fire ¹  appeared to them and came to rest on each one of them. 2:4 All ²  of them were filled with the Holy Spirit, and they began to speak in other languages ³  as the Spirit enabled them. ⁴ 

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 Grk “And all.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.

³ tn The Greek term is γλώσσαις (glwssai"), the same word used for the tongues of fire.

⁴ tn Grk “just as the spirit gave them to utter.” The verb ἀποφθέγγομαι (apofqengomai) was used of special utterances in Classical Greek (BDAG 125 s.v.).