What Is Pentecost?

Rules about the Festival of Weeks

15 Count seven weeks from the day when the priest has made this offering of grain. 16 You must count until the day after the seventh Sabbath day. That will be 50 days. Then you must bring another grain offering to the Lord. 17 Each family must bring from their homes two loaves of bread as a special gift to the Lord. You must use two tenths of an ephah of good flour and yeast to make the bread. This is a gift to the Lord from the first crops of your harvest.

18 As well as the bread, the whole group of people must bring seven perfect lambs that are one year old. They must bring a young bull and two male sheep. These animals will be a burnt offering to the Lord, together with the grain offering and the drink offerings. The smell of these offerings while they are burning will give pleasure to the Lord. 19 You must also offer one male goat as a sin offering. And you must offer two lambs that are one year old as a friendship offering. 20 The priest will lift up the two lambs and the bread as a special gift to the Lord. They are a holy offering to the Lord that belongs to the priests.

21 On that day, you must not do any of your usual work. It is a day when you must meet together to worship the Lord. This is a rule that will continue for ever, in all the places where you live.

22 At harvest time, when you cut the crops on your land, do not cut to the edge of your field. Do not pick up the grain that falls onto the ground. Leave some of the grain for the poor people and for the foreign people who live among you. I am the Lord your God.” ’

The Holy Spirit comes on the day of Pentecost

1 Then the day of the Pentecost festival arrived. All the believers were meeting together in one place. 2  Suddenly, as they were sitting together, they heard a noise. The noise came from the sky and it filled the whole house. It was like the sound of a strong wind. 3 Then they saw something that looked like many small fires. The separate fires moved and went to sit on each person there. 4 All the believers became full with the Holy Spirit. They began to speak in languages that they had not learned. They spoke whatever language the Holy Spirit helped them to speak.

5 At that time, Jews who came from many different countries in the world were staying in Jerusalem. They were Jews who carefully obeyed God's Law. 6 When these Jews heard the noise, a large crowd of them came together in that place. As the believers spoke, each person in the crowd could hear the message in their own language. This confused them.

7 They were very surprised and they said to each other, ‘These men who are speaking our languages are all from Galilee. 8 But each of us can hear them speak in the language of our own home country. How can this happen? 9 Some of us are from Parthia, Media and Elam. Some of us live in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia. Some of us are from Pontus and Asia. 10 Some of us are from Phrygia and Pamphylia. Some of us are from Egypt. Some of us are from the country of Libya, near the town of Cyrene. Some of us have come from Rome to visit Jerusalem. 11 Some of us were born as Jews. Others of us are Gentiles who now obey God as the Jews do. Some of us are from Crete and some of us are from Arabia. But we all hear these people speaking in our own languages. They are speaking about all the great things that God has done.’

12 All the people were very surprised. They did not understand what was happening. ‘What does all this mean?’ they asked each other.

13 But some other people laughed at the disciples. They said, ‘These people have drunk too much wine!’