Acts 2:18

My servants. The passage from which this is quoted (Joel 2:29) says simply “servants” or “slaves,” both in the Hebrew and the LXX. It gives assurance that God’s Spirit is not reserved for the high and the mighty, but is to be received also by men and women on the lowest levels of society (see on Joel 2:28). But in the present context, Peter seems to make an extended application of these words. In v. 17 he speaks of “your sons,” “your daughters,” “your young men,” “your old men.” Then at the beginning of v. 18 he makes a subtle change from OT. His declaration, translated literally, is, “and indeed upon my servants and upon my handmaidens.” This addition of the words “indeed” and “my” to the OT text would seem to imply that Peter considers “servants” and “handmaidens” not as a further category of those who would receive the Spirit, but rather as a summary of all those who already had been mentioned. Your sons, daughters, young men, and old men, indeed all of Israel (see on v. 17), were to be My servants and handmaidens, true servants of God.

In those days. That is, “in the last days” (v. 17).

Of my Spirit. See on ch. 3:19.

Shall prophesy. See on v. 17. The words here do not appear in the corresponding passage in Joel 2:29.