Why did the Spirit wait until Pentecost?

⁴Being assembled together with them, he commanded them, “Don’t depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which you heard from me.

⁵For John indeed baptized in water, but you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

⁶Therefore when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, are you now restoring the kingdom to Israel?”

⁷He said to them, “It isn’t for you to know times or seasons which the Father has set within his own authority.

⁸But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. You will be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth.”

⁹When he had said these things, as they were looking, he was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight.

¹⁰While they were looking steadfastly into the sky as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white clothing,

¹¹who also said, “You men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who was received up from you into the sky will come back in the same way as you saw him going into the sky.”

¹²Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mountain called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away.

¹³When they had come in, they went up into the upper room, where they were staying; that is Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James.

¹⁴All these with one accord continued steadfastly in prayer and supplication, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.

¹Now when the day of Pentecost had come, they were all with one accord in one place.

²Suddenly there came from the sky a sound like the rushing of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.

³Tongues like fire appeared and were distributed to them, and one sat on each of them.

⁴They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other languages, as the Spirit gave them the ability to speak.

⁵Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under the sky.

⁶When this sound was heard, the multitude came together, and were bewildered, because everyone heard them speaking in his own language.

⁷They were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, “Behold, aren’t all these who speak Galileans?

⁸How do we hear, everyone in our own native language?

⁹Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and people from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia,

¹⁰Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, the parts of Libya around Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes,

¹¹Cretans and Arabians: we hear them speaking in our languages the mighty works of God!”

¹²They were all amazed, and were perplexed, saying one to another, “What does this mean?”

¹³Others, mocking, said, “They are filled with new wine.”

¹⁴But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and spoke out to them, “You men of Judea, and all you who dwell at Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to my words.

¹⁵For these aren’t drunken, as you suppose, seeing it is only the third hour of the day.

¹⁶But this is what has been spoken through the prophet Joel:

¹⁷‘It will be in the last days, says God, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh. Your sons and your daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions. Your old men will dream dreams.

¹⁸Yes, and on my servants and on my handmaidens in those days, I will pour out my Spirit, and they will prophesy.

¹⁹I will show wonders in the sky above, and signs on the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and billows of smoke.

²⁰The sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and glorious day of the Lord comes.

²¹It will be, that whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.’

²²“Men of Israel, hear these words! Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved by God to you by mighty works and wonders and signs which God did by him in your midst, even as you yourselves know,

²³him, being delivered up by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by the hand of lawless men, crucified and killed;

²⁴whom God raised up, having freed him from the agony of death, because it was not possible that he should be held by it.

²⁵For David says concerning him, ‘I saw the Lord always before my face, For he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved.

²⁶Therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced. Moreover my flesh also will dwell in hope;

²⁷because you will not leave my soul in Hades, neither will you allow your Holy One to see decay.

²⁸You made known to me the ways of life. You will make me full of gladness with your presence.’

²⁹“Brothers, I may tell you freely of the patriarch David, that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.

³⁰Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, he would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne,

³¹he foreseeing this spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that neither was his soul left in Hades, nor did his flesh see decay.

³²This Jesus God raised up, to which we all are witnesses.

³³Being therefore exalted by the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this, which you now see and hear.

³⁴For David didn’t ascend into the heavens, but he says himself, ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit by my right hand,

³⁵until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”’

³⁶“Let all the house of Israel therefore know certainly that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”

³⁷Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”

³⁸Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

³⁹For the promise is to you, and to your children, and to all who are far off, even as many as the Lord our God will call to himself.”

⁴⁰With many other words he testified, and exhorted them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation!”

⁴¹Then those who gladly received his word were baptized. There were added that day about three thousand souls.

¹⁵“‘You shall count from the next day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven Sabbaths shall be completed:

¹⁶even to the next day after the seventh Sabbath you shall number fifty days; and you shall offer a new meal offering to Yahweh.

¹⁷You shall bring out of your habitations two loaves of bread for a wave offering made of two tenth parts of an ephah of fine flour. They shall be baked with yeast, for first fruits to Yahweh.

¹⁸You shall present with the bread seven lambs without defect a year old, one young bull, and two rams. They shall be a burnt offering to Yahweh, with their meal offering, and their drink offerings, even an offering made by fire, of a sweet aroma to Yahweh.

¹⁹You shall offer one male goat for a sin offering, and two male lambs a year old for a sacrifice of peace offerings.

²⁰The priest shall wave them with the bread of the first fruits for a wave offering before Yahweh, with the two lambs. They shall be holy to Yahweh for the priest.

²¹You shall make proclamation on the same day: there shall be a holy convocation to you; you shall do no regular work. This is a statute forever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.