John Gill Commentary Acts 2:18

"Yea and on my servants and on my handmaidens in those days Will I pour forth of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy." — Acts 2:18 (ASV)

And on my servants, and on my handmaidens
In Joel it is only the servants and the handmaids; and which Kimchi interprets of strangers that should stand in the land of Israel, and serve the Israelites. But these phrases do not seem so much to describe the civil state and condition of those persons, as their religious character, being such as were brought, by the power of divine grace, to yield a cheerful obedience to the will of God; though it may also regard the former, and show, that with God there is no distinction and difference of bond or free, of rich or poor; contrary to a maxim of the Jews ^F19 , that the Shekinah does not dwell but upon a wise man, a mighty man, and a rich man.

I will pour out, in those days, of my Spirit, and they shall
prophesy ;
see the note on the preceding verse, from which this clause, "and they shall prophesy", is repeated; for it is not in the text in Joel; which is done to point at the end and effect of the Spirit being poured down upon them.

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FOOTNOTES:

• F19: T. Bab. Sabbat, fol. 92. 1.