Acts 2:1 When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance. 5 Now there were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven. 6 And when this sound occurred, the crowd came together, and were bewildered because each one of them was hearing them speak in his own language. 7 They were amazed and astonished, saying, "Why, are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 "And how is it that we each hear them in our own language to which we were born? 9 "Parthians and Medes and Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the districts of Libya around Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 11 Cretans and Arabs - we hear them in our own tongues speaking of the mighty deeds of God." ... 15 "For these men are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only the third hour of the day; 16 but this is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel: 17 'AND IT SHALL BE IN THE LAST DAYS,' God says, 'THAT I WILL POUR FORTH OF MY SPIRIT ON ALL MANKIND; AND YOUR SONS AND YOUR DAUGHTERS SHALL PROPHESY, AND YOUR YOUNG MEN SHALL SEE VISIONS, AND YOUR OLD MEN SHALL DREAM DREAMS; 18 EVEN ON MY BONDSLAVES, BOTH MEN AND WOMEN, I WILL IN THOSE DAYS POUR FORTH OF MY SPIRIT And they shall prophesy.
This is from the account of the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was given to believers. Verse 1 states that the believers were all together. Sunday School lesson illustrations I've seen depict this gathering as just Jesus' surviving eleven disciples, possibly with Matthias, who had been chosen (in Acts 1) to replace Judas. Acts 1:15, however, indicates that a gathering of “all” the believers would have been some 120. Verse 4 indicates that these believers' speaking in tongues was the result of being filled with the Holy Spirit, and that the Holy Spirit gave them the words they spoke. Verses 7-11 are also interesting; there may have been as many as 14 languages represented among the hearers, and possibly more. 120 people speaking, some 14 languages heard … it is possible that the believers were speaking in perfect unison, or that particular believers, by the action of the Holy Spirit, spoke the language of the person(s) near them. Personally, given the din of 120 persons speaking at once and how the hundreds or thousands of persons from various regions might have been scattered among the thousands in the crowd, my opinion is that various people hearing their native languages was a miracle in addition to that of the believers speaking in tongues.
Acts 2:32 "This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses. 33 "Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear. ...
37 Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brethren , what shall we do?" 38 Peter said to them, "Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 "For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself."
Verse 32 reiterates the fact that what the onlookers heard – the speaking in tongues – was due to Jesus having given the Holy Spirit to His followers. The source of the speaking in tongues was God; that Peter felt it necessary to repeat this indicates that the hearers thought the speaking in tongues “weird” (some hearers sneered that the believers were drunk). Verse 39 gives the “limit” God placed on this gift – the Holy Spirit, as verse 38 states – all believers, wherever, for all time.
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