Passage

1 Peter 1.16

Book: 1 Peter · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

14. as children of obedience, not fashioning yourselves according to your former lusts in the time of your ignorance: 15. but like as he who called you is holy, be ye yourselves also holy in all manner of living;

16. because it is written, Ye shall be holy; for I am holy.

And if ye call on him as Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to each man's work, pass the time of your sojourning in fear: 18. knowing that ye were redeemed, not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, from your vain manner of life handed down from your fathers; (1 Peter 1:14-18, ASV)

WEB

14. as children of obedience, not conforming yourselves according to your former lusts as in your ignorance, 15. but just as he who called you is holy, you yourselves also be holy in all of your behavior;

16. because it is written, “You shall be holy; for I am holy.”

If you call on him as Father, who without respect of persons judges according to each man’s work, pass the time of your living as foreigners here in reverent fear: 18. knowing that you were redeemed, not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, from the useless way of life handed down from your fathers, (1 Peter 1:14-18, WEB)

KJV

14. As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: 15. But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;

16. Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.

And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear: 18. Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; (1 Peter 1:14-18, KJV)

YLT

14. as obedient children, not fashioning yourselves to the former desires in your ignorance, 15. but according as He who did call you [is] holy, ye also, become holy in all behaviour,

16. because it hath been written, 'Become ye holy, because I am holy;'

and if on the Father ye do call, who without acceptance of persons is judging according to the work of each, in fear the time of your sojourn pass ye, 18. having known that, not with corruptible things, silver or gold, were ye redeemed from your foolish behaviour delivered by fathers, (1 Peter 1:14-18, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: Peter the apostle, writing with the help of Silvanus (1 Pet 5:12).
Audience: Christians described as "those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia" (1 Pet 1:1), five Roman provinces in northern and central Asia Minor. The audience is largely Gentile (1 Pet 1:18, a futile way of life inherited from their forefathers; 4:3-4).
Location: Written from "Babylon" (1 Pet 5:13), which the great majority of interpreters read as a cipher for Rome, as in Revelation 17:5.
Time period: c. AD 62-64 on the traditional authorship, before or at the very beginning of the Neronian persecution. The hostility the letter addresses is social and local, slander, exclusion, and abuse, rather than empire-wide legal prosecution.

Theological reading

"Because it is written, You shall be holy, for I am holy."

Source. Leviticus 11:44-45, with the same formula at 19:2 and 20:7 and 20:26. Peter quotes it in the Septuagint's wording and introduces it with gegraptai, the standard citation formula for Scripture.

The grammar of the command. The Hebrew imperative is grounded in a statement of fact about God, and the connective is causal: because I am holy. Israel's holiness is derivative, imitative, and dependent, never an independent achievement. The same structure appears in Jesus's "be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Matthew 5:48) and "be merciful just as your Father is merciful" (Luke 6:36).

What is being transferred. In Leviticus this is addressed to a nation defined by covenant, land, and law. Peter addresses it to scattered Gentile converts in five Roman provinces with no land and no legal standing. The transfer is deliberate and is developed at 1 Peter 2:9, where they are called a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, all four titles drawn from Exodus 19:5-6 and Isaiah 43:20-21.

Holiness as the ground of the letter's ethics. Everything 1 Peter asks of its readers under pressure, submission, non-retaliation, good conduct among the Gentiles, follows from this verse rather than from prudence.

See H6918 - qadosh.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

G1510 - eimi, eimi, Strong's G1510
G1096 - ginomai, ginomai, Strong's G1096

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Argument from Sanctity, via 1 Peter 1.13-16

Concepts:

Doctrine

Lexicon:

H6918 - qadosh, via 1 Peter 1.15-16

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.