¹² Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, whose people he has chosen as his own. ^13-15 The Lord gazes down upon mankind from heaven where he lives. He has made their hearts and closely watches everything they do.

^16-17 The best-equipped army cannot save a king—for great strength is not enough to save anyone. A war horse is a poor risk for winning victories—it is strong, but it cannot save.

^18-19 But the eyes of the Lord are watching over those who fear him, who rely upon his steady love. He will keep them from death even in times of famine! ²⁰ We depend upon the Lord alone to save us. Only he can help us; he protects us like a shield. ²¹ No wonder we are happy in the Lord! For we are trusting him. We trust his holy name. ²² Yes, Lord, let your constant love surround us, for our hopes are in you alone.

19 The Israelis arrived in the Sinai peninsula three months after the night of their departure from Egypt. ^2-3 After breaking camp at Rephidim, they came to the base of Mount Sinai and set up camp there. Moses climbed the rugged mountain to meet with God, and from somewhere in the mountain God called to him and said, “Give these instructions to the people of Israel. Tell them, ⁴ ‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I brought you to myself as though on eagles’ wings. ⁵ Now if you will obey me and keep your part of my contract with you, you shall be my own little flock from among all the nations of the earth; for all the earth is mine. ⁶ And you shall be a kingdom of priests to God, a holy nation.’”

⁷ Moses returned from the mountain and called together the leaders of the people and told them what the Lord had said.

⁸ They all responded in unison, “We will certainly do everything he asks of us.” Moses reported the words of the people to the Lord.

⁹ Then he said to Moses, “I am going to come to you in the form of a dark cloud, so that the people themselves can hear me when I talk with you, and then they will always believe you.

2 Seven weeks had gone by since Jesus’ death and resurrection, and the Day of Pentecost had now arrived.^[a] As the believers met together that day, ² suddenly there was a sound like the roaring of a mighty windstorm in the skies above them and it filled the house where they were meeting. ³ Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on their heads. ⁴ And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in languages they didn’t know,^[b] for the Holy Spirit gave them this ability.

⁵ Many godly Jews were in Jerusalem that day for the religious celebrations, having arrived from many nations. ⁶ And when they heard the roaring in the sky above the house, crowds came running to see what it was all about, and were stunned to hear their own languages being spoken by the disciples.

⁷ “How can this be?” they exclaimed. “For these men are all from Galilee, ⁸ and yet we hear them speaking all the native languages of the lands where we were born! ⁹ Here we are—Parthians, Medes, Elamites, men from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia Minor, ¹⁰ Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, the Cyrene language areas of Libya, visitors from Rome—both Jews and Jewish converts— ¹¹ Cretans, and Arabians. And we all hear these men telling in our own languages about the mighty miracles of God!”