And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.
Parallel translations
- WEB Tongues like fire appeared and were distributed to them, and one sat on each of them.
- BSB They saw tongues like flames of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.
- NKJV Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them.
- NASB And tongues that looked like fire appeared to them, distributing themselves, and a tongue rested on each one of them.
- NLT Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Tongues like fire appear and rest on each believer. It visibly marks each one as filled with the Spirit.
Overview
Fire often signifies God's presence and purifying power in Scripture. The distribution of flames 'on each of them' shows the Spirit comes upon every believer, not just leaders. This visible sign confirms the new-covenant gift of the Spirit to all God's people.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 17
- Matt 3:11I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:
- John 1:32–33And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him.
- Jer 23:29Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?
- Acts 2:4And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
- Luke 24:32And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?
- Isa 11:2–3And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD;
- Gen 11:6And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.
- 1 Cor 12:10To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues:
- Mal 3:2–3But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap:
- Acts 2:11Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.
- Rev 14:6And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,
- Matt 3:15And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him.
- Isa 6:5Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.
- Rev 11:3And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.
- Jas 3:6And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.
- Ps 55:9Destroy, O Lord, and divide their tongues: for I have seen violence and strife in the city.
- Acts 1:15And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples, and said, (the number of names together were about an hundred and twenty,)
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Acts is the risen Christ continuing his work by the Spirit through the church, as the apostles preach that there is salvation in no other name under heaven.
How Acts 2:3 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.