Passage

1 Peter 3.19-20

Book: 1 Peter · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

17. For it is better, if the will of God should so will, that ye suffer for well-doing than for evil-doing. 18. Because Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God; being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;

19. in which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison, 20. that aforetime were disobedient, when the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water:

which also after a true likeness doth now save you, even baptism, not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the interrogation of a good conscience toward God, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ; 22. who is on the right hand of God, having gone into heaven; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him. (1 Peter 3:17-22, ASV)

WEB

17. For it is better, if it is God’s will, that you suffer for doing well than for doing evil. 18. Because Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring you to God; being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;

19. in which he also went and preached to the spirits in prison, 20. who before were disobedient, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, while the ship was being built. In it, few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water.

This is a symbol of baptism, which now saves you, not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22. who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, angels and authorities and powers being made subject to him. (1 Peter 3:17-22, WEB)

KJV

17. For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing. 18. For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:

19. By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; 20. Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.

The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ: 22. Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him. (1 Peter 3:17-22, KJV)

YLT

17. for [it is] better doing good, if the will of God will it, to suffer, than doing evil; 18. because also Christ once for sin did suffer, righteous for unrighteous, that he might lead us to God, having been put to death indeed, in the flesh, and having been made alive in the spirit,

19. in which also to the spirits in prison having gone he did preach, 20. who sometime disbelieved, when once the long-suffering of God did wait, in days of Noah, an ark being preparing, in which few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water;

also to which an antitype doth now save us, baptism, (not a putting away of the filth of flesh, but the question of a good conscience in regard to God,) through the rising again of Jesus Christ, 22. who is at the right hand of God, having gone on to heaven, messengers, and authorities, and powers, having been subjected to him. (1 Peter 3:17-22, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: Peter, who opens the letter as "an apostle of Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 1:1) and writes "by Silvanus" (1 Peter 5:12), most likely his secretary or the courier of the letter. Many critical scholars read the letter as written in Peter's name by a later disciple; the traditional attribution still has careful defenders.
Audience: "the elect who are sojourners of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia" (1:1), churches across five regions of Roman Asia Minor. Most were Gentile converts, who had lived "in the time of your ignorance" (1:14), and they faced slander and social pressure from their neighbors more than official state persecution.
Location: written from "Babylon" (1 Peter 5:13), most likely a cover name for Rome, as in Revelation 14:8.
Time period: If written by Peter, c. AD 62-64, before his death in Rome under Nero. Scholars who read the letter as pseudonymous usually place it later, c. AD 70-95. The date is debated; the reading below does not depend on it.

Theological reading

"in which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison, that aforetime were disobedient, when the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water:" (1 Peter 3:19-20, ASV)

A famously hard text. Interpreters across the centuries have found these verses difficult, and no reading commands agreement. The questions are linked: who are "the spirits in prison," when did Christ preach to them, and what did he preach?

Three main readings.

Christ preached through Noah. Augustine, in a letter to Evodius, proposed that Christ, "in the spirit" (3:18), preached through Noah to the people of Noah's day, while the ark was being built; those people are now "in prison." Peter elsewhere calls Christ's Spirit active in the prophets (1:11), and 2 Peter 2:5 calls Noah "a preacher of righteousness." Wayne Grudem has defended this reading.
Christ proclaimed victory to fallen angels. William J. Dalton argued at length that the "spirits" are the angelic beings whose disobedience Jewish tradition connected with Genesis 6:1-4 and who, in 1 Enoch, are held imprisoned until judgment. On this view the risen Christ, on his way to heaven (3:22), announced his triumph over them. "Spirits" used without qualification usually refers to non-human beings in the New Testament. See Nephilim and the Sons of God and Genesis 6:1-4.
Christ preached to the human dead. Some early writers, among them Clement of Alexandria, read the passage as Christ preaching in Hades to the dead. This view is often linked with 1 Peter 4:6, though many interpreters read that verse as referring to people who heard the gospel in life and have since died.

What is clear. Even on the third view the text says nothing of how the spirits responded, so it is a thin foundation for any doctrine of a second chance after death. Its point in context is that the righteous sufferer has been vindicated, and the few who were saved through water in Noah's day picture the small, harassed church Peter is writing to. God's "longsuffering waited," and the faithful minority was not lost.

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.

G5590 - psyche, psyche, Strong's G5590
G4151 - pneuma, pneuma, Strong's G4151
G2316 - theos, theos, Strong's G2316

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Concepts:

Apostles' Creed, via 1 Peter 3.18-20, 1 Peter 3.19
Christ's Descent to the Dead, via 1 Peter 3.18-20, 1 Peter 3.18-22, 1 Peter 3.19
Genesis Flood, via 1 Peter 3.20
God's Love for Creation, via 1 Peter 3.20
Hell and Eternal Punishment, via 1 Peter 3.18-20
Nephilim and the Sons of God
Repentance of Fallen Angels
Salvation of the Unevangelized, via 1 Peter 3.18-20
Water and Life, via 1 Peter 3.20-21

People:

Jude the Brother of Jesus, via 1 Peter 3.19

Lexicon:

Passages:

1 Peter 3.18-22

Notes

Your annotations.

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.