It’s almost Holy Week, the birds are singing, and it’s a day ending in “y”, and that means it’s time for another addition to The Chart. (See this whole series on 1 John 4:21 for the story behind that.) According to various translations, who is Peter saying is definitely not drunk?

“Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning.”

— Acts 2:15, NRSVUE

Acts 2:15: "for ____ are not drunk..."
    
        Translation/Language:
        Date:
        Phrase:
        Approach:
    

        Original Greek text
        
        houtoi
        
    

        Popular translations:
        
        
        
    

        King James Version (KJV)
        1611
        these
        Inclusive
    

        American Standard Version (ASV)
        1901
        these
        Inclusive
    

        The Living Bible (TLB)
        1971
        these men
        Male
    

        New King James Version (NKJV)
        1982
        these
        Inclusive
    

        New International Version – 1984*
        1984
        these men
        Male
    

        New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
        1989
        these
        Inclusive
    

        Contemporary English Version (CEV)
        1995
        these people
        Inclusive
    

        New Living Translation (NLT)
        1996
        these people
        Inclusive
    

        New International Version (NIV)
        2011
        these people
        Inclusive
    

        Contemporary English Bible (CEB)
        2011
        these people
        Inclusive
    

        English Standard Version (ESV)
        2016
        these people
        Inclusive
    

        Christian Standard Bible (CSB)
        2017
        these people
        Inclusive
    

        The Message (MSG)
        2018
        these people
        Inclusive
    

        New American Standard Bible (NASB)
        2020
        these people
        Inclusive
    

        NRSV Updated Edition (NRSVUE)
        2021
        these
        Inclusive
    

        
        
        
        
    

        Specialty translations:
        
        
        
    

        God’s Word (GW)
        1995
        these men
        Male
    

        New Century Version (NCV)
        2005
        these people
        Inclusive
    

        The Inclusive Bible (TIB)
        2009
        these people
        Inclusive
    

        Expanded Bible (EXB)
        2011
        these people
        Inclusive
    

        Names of God (NOG)
        2011
        these men
        Male
    

        New Testament for Everyone (NTE)
        2011
        these people
        Inclusive
    

        The Passion Translation (TPT)
        2011
        these people
        Inclusive
    

        New English Translation (NET)
        2011
        these men
        Male
    

        First Nations Version (FNV)
        2021
        no one among us
        Paraphrase
    

Acts 2:15 is hilarious to start with, because what just happened? Oh, right, a bunch of people came pouring out of this house and they were all talking at once, and yet absolutely everyone could understand them perfectly. If that happened, I would not be thinking “these people must be drunk”. Ah, yes, because drunk people are famous for being easier to understand…said no one, ever.

And then here comes Peter, and his defense is not “that’s not how being drunk works”, but rather, “it’s only 9am”. I don’t know how to tell you this, Peter, but some people have been drinking since last night.

Raise your hand if you think the real issue with translating this text is that some people do *not* want there to have been *women* speaking on Pentecost.

But, although he apparently does not know how being drunk works, either, Peter does know how the language he is speaking works. He quite properly uses the word “houtoi“, which is literally just “these”. Not “these people”, or “these guys”, or “these weirdos”, but just “these”. He does not supply a noun to go with it, because even the people who have been drinking since last night can tell who he is talking about.

It is reasonable to then ask, “okay, but who is he talking about?”

And then you have to figure it out, and you might want to add a noun to make it clear in English. So you might decide that Peter was referring to a group of just men, or to a mixed group of people, or even to a group of fish who have been miraculously granted the powers of speech¹.

But whatever you decide, that’s a choice. The Greek does not supply a noun. You added that noun. That noun is on you.

You can leave it as ambiguous as it is in the Greek by just not picking a gendered noun.

Or, if you decide it was definitely only men, then you have to explain why Peter immediately thought of how Joel said “your sons and your daughters shall prophesy”.

¹This is a joke. The Greek is grammatically masculine plural, which means that based on the grammar alone, you can rule out a group of just women, but you cannot rule out the fish². But honestly, I don't think the fish are any more ridiculous than thinking Joel was talking about just men.

²You have to look at the context to rule out the fish.