Albert Barnes Commentary Acts 2:6

"And when this sound was heard, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speaking in his own language." — Acts 2:6 (ASV)

When this was noised abroad. When the report of this remarkable transaction was spread, as it naturally would be without delay.

Were confounded. synechythē. They were violently moved and agitated; they were amazed and astonished at the remarkable occurrence.

Every man heard them speak, etc. Though the multitude spoke different tongues, yet they now heard Galileans use the language which they had learned in foreign nations.

His own language. His own dialect—dialektō. His own idiom, whether it was a foreign language or a modification of Hebrew. The word may mean either, but it is probable that the foreign Jews would greatly modify Hebrew, or conform almost entirely to the language spoken in the country where they lived.

We may remark here that this effect of the first descent of the Holy Ghost was not peculiar to that time. A work of grace in human hearts in a revival of religion will always become widely known. A multitude will come together, and God often, as He did here, uses this motive to bring them under the influence of religion.

Curiosity was the motive here, and it was the occasion of their being brought under the influence of the truth and of their conversion. In thousands of cases, this has occurred since. The effect of what they saw was to confound them. They made no complaint at first about the irregularity of what was done, but were all amazed and overwhelmed.

So the effect of a revival of religion is often to convince the multitude that it is indeed a work of the Holy One; to amaze them by the display of His power; and to silence opposition and cavil by the manifest presence and power of God. A few afterwards began to cavil (Acts 2:13), as some will always do in a revival; but the majority were convinced, as will always be the case, that this was a mighty display of the power of God.