Passage

1 Peter 2.10

Book: 1 Peter · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

8. and, A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence; for they stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed. 9. But ye are an elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that ye may show forth the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:

10. who in time past were no people, but now are the people of God: who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.

Beloved, I beseech you as sojourners and pilgrims, to abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; 12. having your behavior seemly among the Gentiles; that, wherein they speak against you as evil-doers, they may by your good works, which they behold, glorify God in the day of visitation. (1 Peter 2:8-12, ASV)

WEB

8. and, “a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense.” For they stumble at the word, being disobedient, to which also they were appointed. 9. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that you may proclaim the excellence of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light:

10. who in time past were no people, but now are God’s people, who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.

Beloved, I beg you as foreigners and pilgrims, to abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; 12. having good behavior among the nations, so in that of which they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they see, glorify God in the day of visitation. (1 Peter 2:8-12, WEB)

KJV

8. And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed. 9. But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: ^{peculiar: or, purchased} ^{praises: or, virtues}

10. Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.

Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; 12. Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation. ^{whereas: or, wherein} (1 Peter 2:8-12, KJV)

YLT

8. and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence, who are stumbling at the word, being unbelieving,, to which also they were set; 9. and ye [are] a choice race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people acquired, that the excellences ye may shew forth of Him who out of darkness did call you to His wondrous light;

10. who [were] once not a people, and [are] now the people of God; who had not found kindness, and now have found kindness.

Beloved, I call upon [you], as strangers and sojourners, to keep from the fleshly desires, that war against the soul, 12. having your behaviour among the nations right, that in that which they speak against you as evil-doers, of the good works having beheld, they may glorify God in a day of inspection. (1 Peter 2:8-12, 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

"...for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy."

The quotation is from Hosea. Hosea 1:6-10 and Hosea 2:23, where the prophet's children are named Lo-Ammi, "not my people", and Lo-Ruhamah, "not pitied", as signs against the northern kingdom, and where God promises the reversal: "I will say to those who were not My people, You are My people."

The application. In Hosea the not-a-people are apostate Israel; Peter applies the reversal to Gentiles who were never a people in the covenant sense at all. Paul makes exactly the same move with the same texts at Romans 9:25-26. That two independent writers apply the same Hosea passage to Gentile inclusion suggests it was part of the early church's shared scriptural argument rather than an individual insight.

The verse completes verse 9. Verse 9 stacks four titles from Exodus 19:5-6 and Isaiah 43:20-21: a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession. Verse 10 explains how people with no such history came to hold them: by mercy, and by nothing else.

Why it matters in the letter. These readers had lost standing in their cities for becoming Christians (1 Peter 4:3-4). Peter's answer to social exclusion is not to deny it but to reassign their belonging: they are strangers where they live because they are a people somewhere else.

See Israel and the Church.

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.

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Quoted in

Concepts:

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.