Genesis 2:4-9

These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created. In the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, when no plant of the field was yet in the earth and no herb of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no one to till the ground; but a stream would rise from the earth, and water the whole face of the ground— then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being. And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east; and there he put the man whom he had formed. Out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.


Acts 2:1-21

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them.  All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem.  And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each.  Amazed and astonished, they asked, ‘Are not all these who are speaking Galileans?  And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language?  Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes,  Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.’  All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, ‘What does this mean?’  But others sneered and said, ‘They are filled with new wine.’

But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them:

    ‘Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. 

     Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. 

     No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: 
            “In the last days it will be, God declares,
             that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,
              and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
             and your young men shall see visions,
             and your old men shall dream dreams. 
                  Even upon my slaves, both men and women,
                   in those days I will pour out my Spirit;
                 and they shall prophesy. 

      And I will show portents in the heaven above
             and signs on the earth below,
            blood, and fire, and smoky mist. 

     The sun shall be turned to darkness
          and the moon to blood,
           before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day. 
     Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”