Exodus 23:16

23:16 “You are also to observe ¹  the Feast of Harvest, the firstfruits of your labors that you have sown in the field, and the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year ²  when you have gathered in ³  your harvest ⁴  out of the field.

Exodus 34:22

34:22 “You must observe ⁵  the Feast of Weeks – the firstfruits of the harvest of wheat – and the Feast of Ingathering at the end ⁶  of the year.

Leviticus 23:10

23:10 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘When you enter the land that I am about to give to you and you gather in its harvest, ⁷  then you must bring the sheaf of the first portion of your harvest ⁸  to the priest,

Leviticus 23:15-21

The Festival of Weeks

23:15 “‘You must count for yourselves seven weeks from the day after the Sabbath, from the day you bring the wave offering sheaf; they must be complete weeks. ⁹  23:16 You must count fifty days – until the day after the seventh Sabbath – and then ¹⁰  you must present a new grain offering to the Lord. 23:17 From the places where you live you must bring two loaves of ¹¹  bread for a wave offering; they must be made from two tenths of an ephah of fine wheat flour, baked with yeast, ¹²  as first fruits to the Lord. 23:18 Along with the loaves of bread, ¹³  you must also present seven flawless yearling lambs, ¹⁴  one young bull, ¹⁵  and two rams. ¹⁶  They are to be a burnt offering to the Lord along with their grain offering ¹⁷  and drink offerings, a gift of a soothing aroma to the Lord. ¹⁸  23:19 You must also offer ¹⁹  one male goat ²⁰  for a sin offering and two yearling lambs for a peace offering sacrifice, 23:20 and the priest is to wave them – the two lambs ²¹  – along with the bread of the first fruits, as a wave offering before the Lord; they will be holy to the Lord for the priest.

23:21 “‘On this very day you must proclaim an assembly; it is to be a holy assembly for you. ²²  You must not do any regular work. This is a perpetual statute in all the places where you live throughout your generations. ²³ 

Deuteronomy 16:9-11

The Festival of Weeks

16:9 You must count seven weeks; you must begin to count them ²⁴  from the time you begin to harvest the standing grain. 16:10 Then you are to celebrate the Festival of Weeks ²⁵  before the Lord your God with the voluntary offering ²⁶  that you will bring, in proportion to how he ²⁷  has blessed you. 16:11 You shall rejoice before him ²⁸  – you, your son, your daughter, your male and female slaves, the Levites in your villages, ²⁹  the resident foreigners, the orphans, and the widows among you – in the place where the Lord chooses to locate his name.

Acts 2:1-13

The Holy Spirit and the Day of Pentecost

2:1 Now ³⁰  when the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2:2 Suddenly ³¹  a sound ³²  like a violent wind blowing ³³  came from heaven ³⁴  and filled the entire house where they were sitting. 2:3 And tongues spreading out like a fire ³⁵  appeared to them and came to rest on each one of them. 2:4 All ³⁶  of them were filled with the Holy Spirit, and they began to speak in other languages ³⁷  as the Spirit enabled them. ³⁸ 

2:5 Now there were devout Jews ³⁹  from every nation under heaven residing in Jerusalem. ⁴⁰  2:6 When this sound ⁴¹  occurred, a crowd gathered and was in confusion, ⁴²  because each one heard them speaking in his own language. 2:7 Completely baffled, they said, ⁴³  “Aren’t ⁴⁴  all these who are speaking Galileans? 2:8 And how is it that each one of us hears them ⁴⁵  in our own native language? ⁴⁶  2:9 Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and the province of Asia, ⁴⁷  2:10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene, ⁴⁸  and visitors from Rome, ⁴⁹  2:11 both Jews and proselytes, ⁵⁰  Cretans and Arabs – we hear them speaking in our own languages about the great deeds God has done!” ⁵¹  2:12 All were astounded and greatly confused, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” 2:13 But others jeered at the speakers, ⁵²  saying, “They are drunk on new wine!” ⁵³ 

Acts 2:1

The Holy Spirit and the Day of Pentecost

2:1 Now ⁵⁴  when the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.

Colossians 1:20

1:20 and through him to reconcile all things to himself by making peace through the blood of his cross – through him, ⁵⁵  whether things on earth or things in heaven.

James 1:18

1:18 By his sovereign plan he gave us birth ⁵⁶  through the message of truth, that we would be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.

[23:16]  ¹ tn The words “you are also to observe” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[23:16]  ² tn An infinitive construct with a preposition and a pronominal suffix is used to make a temporal clause: “in the going in of the year.” The word “year” is the subjective genitive, the subject of the clause.

[23:16]  ³ tn An infinitive construct with a preposition and a pronominal suffix is used to make a temporal clause: “in the ingathering of you.”

[23:16]  ⁴ tn Heb “gathered in your labors.” This is a metonymy of cause put for the effect. “Labors” are not gathered in, but what the labors produced – the harvest.

[34:22]  ⁵ tn The imperfect tense means “you will do”; it is followed by the preposition with a suffix to express the ethical dative to stress the subject.

[34:22]  ⁶ tn The expression is “the turn of the year,” which is parallel to “the going out of the year,” and means the end of the agricultural season.

[23:10]  ⁷ tn Heb “and you harvest its harvest.”

[23:10]  ⁸ tn Heb “the sheaf of the first of your harvest.”

[23:15]  ⁹ tn Heb “seven Sabbaths, they shall be complete.” The disjunctive accent under “Sabbaths” precludes the translation “seven complete Sabbaths” (as NASB, NIV; cf. NAB, NRSV, NLT). The text is somewhat awkward, which may explain why the LXX tradition is confused here, either adding “you shall count” again at the end of the verse, or leaving out “they shall be,” or keeping “they shall be” and adding “to you.”

[23:16]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and.” In the translation “then” is supplied to clarify the sequence.

[23:17]  ¹¹ tc Smr, LXX, Syriac, Tg. Onq., and Tg. Ps.-J. insert the word חַלּוֹת (khallot, “loaves”; cf. Lev 2:4 and the note there). Even though “loaves” is not explicit in the MT, the number “two” suggests that these are discrete units, not just a measure of flour, so “loaves” should be assumed even in the MT.

[23:17]  ¹² tn Heb “with leaven.” The noun “leaven” is traditional in English versions (cf. KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV), but “yeast” is more commonly used today.

[23:18]  ¹³ tn Heb “And you shall present on the bread.”

[23:18]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “seven flawless lambs, sons of a year.”

[23:18]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and one bull, a son of a herd.”

[23:18]  ¹⁶ tc Smr and LXX add “flawless.”

[23:18]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and their grain offering.”

[23:18]  ¹⁸ sn See the note on Lev 1:9.

[23:19]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “And you shall make.”

[23:19]  ²⁰ tn Heb “a he-goat of goats.”

[23:20]  ²¹ tn Smr and LXX have the Hebrew article on “lambs.” The syntax of this verse is difficult. The object of the verb (two lambs) is far removed from the verb itself (shall wave) in the MT, and the preposition עַל (’al, “upon”), rendered “along with” in this verse, is also added to the far removed subject (literally, “upon [the] two lambs”; see B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 159). It is clear, however, that the two lambs and the loaves (along with their associated grain and drink offerings) constituted the “wave offering,” which served as the prebend “for the priest.” Burnt and sin offerings (vv. 18-19a) were not included in this (see Lev 7:11-14, 28-36).

[23:21]  ²² tn Heb “And you shall proclaim [an assembly] in the bone of this day; a holy assembly it shall be to you” (see the remarks in B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 160, and the remarks on the LXX rendering in J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 367).

[23:21]  ²³ tn Heb “for your generations.”

[16:9]  ²⁴ tn Heb “the seven weeks.” The translation uses a pronoun to avoid redundancy in English.

[16:10]  ²⁵ tn The Hebrew phrase חַג שָׁבֻעוֹת (khag shavu’ot) is otherwise known in the OT (Exod 23:16) as קָצִיר (qatsir, “harvest”) and in the NT as πεντηχοστή (penthcosth, “Pentecost”).

[16:10]  ²⁶ tn Heb “the sufficiency of the offering of your hand.”

[16:10]  ²⁷ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” See note on “he” in 16:1.

[16:11]  ²⁸ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” See note on “he” in 16:1.

[16:11]  ²⁹ tn Heb “gates.”

[2:1]  ³⁰ tn Grk “And” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic. Greek style often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” but English style does not.

[2:2]  ³¹ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated for stylistic reasons. It occurs as part of the formula καὶ ἐγένετο (kai egeneto) which is often left untranslated in Luke-Acts because it is redundant in contemporary English. Here it is possible (and indeed necessary) to translate ἐγένετο as “came” so that the initial clause of the English translation contains a verb; nevertheless the translation of the conjunction καί is not necessary.

[2:2]  ³² tn Or “a noise.”

[2:2]  ³³ tn While φέρω (ferw) generally refers to movement from one place to another with the possible implication of causing the movement of other objects, in Acts 2:2 φέρομαι (feromai) should probably be understood in a more idiomatic sense of “blowing” since it is combined with the noun for wind (πνοή, pnoh).

[2:2]  ³⁴ tn Or “from the sky.” The Greek word οὐρανός (ouranos) may be translated “sky” or “heaven” depending on the context.

[2:3]  ³⁵ 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.

[2:4]  ³⁶ 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.

[2:4]  ³⁷ tn The Greek term is γλώσσαις (glwssai"), the same word used for the tongues of fire.

[2:4]  ³⁸ 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.).

[2:5]  ³⁹ tn Grk “Jews, devout men.” It is possible that only men are in view here in light of OT commands for Jewish men to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem at various times during the year (cf. Exod 23:17, 34:23; Deut 16:16). However, other evidence seems to indicate that both men and women might be in view. Luke 2:41-52 shows that whole families would make the temporary trip to Jerusalem. In addition, it is probable that the audience consisted of families who had taken up permanent residence in Jerusalem. The verb κατοικέω (katoikew) normally means “reside” or “dwell,” and archaeological evidence from tombs in Jerusalem does indicate that many families immigrated to Jerusalem permanently (see B. Witherington, Acts, 135); this would naturally include women. Also, the word ἀνήρ (ajnhr), which usually does mean “male” or “man” (as opposed to woman), sometimes is used generically to mean “a person” (BDAG 79 s.v. 2; cf. Matt 12:41). Given this evidence, then, it is conceivable that the audience in view here is not individual male pilgrims but a mixed group of men and women.

[2:5]  ⁴⁰ tn Grk “Now there were residing in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven.”

[2:6]  ⁴¹ tn Or “this noise.”

[2:6]  ⁴² tn Or “was bewildered.”

[2:7]  ⁴³ tn Grk “They were astounded and amazed, saying.” The two imperfect verbs, ἐξίσταντο (existanto) and ἐθαύμαζον (eqaumazon), show both the surprise and the confusion on the part of the hearers. The verb ἐξίσταντο (from ἐξίστημι, existhmi) often implies an illogical perception or response (BDAG 350 s.v. ἐξίστημι): “to be so astonished as to almost fail to comprehend what one has experienced” (L&N 25.218).

[2:7]  ⁴⁴ tn Grk “Behold, aren’t all these.” The Greek word ἰδού (idou) at the beginning of this statement has not been translated because it has no exact English equivalent here, but adds interest and emphasis (BDAG 468 s.v. 1).

[2:8]  ⁴⁵ tn Grk “we hear them, each one of us.”

[2:8]  ⁴⁶ tn Grk “in our own language in which we were born.”

[2:9]  ⁴⁷ tn Grk “Asia”; in the NT this always refers to the Roman province of Asia, made up of about one-third of the west and southwest end of modern Asia Minor. Asia lay to the west of the region of Phrygia and Galatia. The words “the province of” are supplied to indicate to the modern reader that this does not refer to the continent of Asia.

[2:10]  ⁴⁸ tn According to BDAG 595 s.v. Λιβύη, the western part of Libya, Libya Cyrenaica, is referred to here (see also Josephus, Ant. 16.6.1 [16.160] for a similar phrase).

[2:10]  ⁴⁹ map For location see JP4 A1.

[2:11]  ⁵⁰ sn Proselytes refers to Gentile (i.e., non-Jewish) converts to Judaism.

[2:11]  ⁵¹ tn Or “God’s mighty works.” Here the genitive τοῦ θεοῦ (tou qeou) has been translated as a subjective genitive.

[2:13]  ⁵² tn The words “the speakers” are not in the Greek text, but have been supplied for clarity. Direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

[2:13]  ⁵³ tn Grk “They are full of new wine!”

[2:1]  ⁵⁴ tn Grk “And” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic. Greek style often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” but English style does not.

[1:20]  ⁵⁵ tc The presence or absence of the second occurrence of the phrase δι᾿ αὐτοῦ (di’ autou, “through him”) is a difficult textual problem to solve. External evidence is fairly evenly divided. Many ancient and excellent witnesses lack the phrase (B D* F G I 0278 81 1175 1739 1881 2464 al latt sa), but equally important witnesses have it (Ì⁴⁶ א A C D¹ Ψ 048^vid 33 Ï). Both readings have strong Alexandrian support, which makes the problem difficult to decide on external evidence alone. Internal evidence points to the inclusion of the phrase as original. The word immediately preceding the phrase is the masculine pronoun αὐτοῦ (autou); thus the possibility of omission through homoioteleuton in various witnesses is likely. Scribes might have deleted the phrase because of perceived redundancy or awkwardness in the sense: The shorter reading is smoother and more elegant, so scribes would be prone to correct the text in that direction. As far as style is concerned, repetition of key words and phrases for emphasis is not foreign to the corpus Paulinum (see, e.g., Rom 8:23, Eph 1:13, 2 Cor 12:7). In short, it is easier to account for the shorter reading arising from the longer reading than vice versa, so the longer reading is more likely original.

[1:18]  ⁵⁶ tn Grk “Having willed, he gave us birth.”