all flesh 10 is like grass
and all its glory like the flower of the grass; 11
the grass withers and the flower falls off,
the one who wants to love life and see good days must keep 16 his tongue from evil and his lips from uttering deceit.
3:20 after they were disobedient long ago 25 when God patiently waited 26 in the days of Noah as an ark was being constructed. In the ark 27 a few, that is eight souls, were delivered through water.
1 tn Grk “in/by which,” referring to the change of behavior described in v. 3. The unbelievers are astonished by the readers’ moral transformation. Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.
2 tn Or “are surprised, are taken aback.” The same verb occurs in 4:12.
3 tn Grk “blaspheming,” giving the result of their astonishment. Here the target of their “blasphemy/vilification” is not God but the Christian.
4 tn Grk “it contains,” “it stands.”
5 tn Grk “chosen, priceless.”
6 tn Grk “the one who believes.”
7 tn Grk either “in him” or “in it,” but the OT and NT uses personify the stone as the King, the Messiah whom God will establish in Jerusalem.
8 tn The negative (οὐ μή, ou mh) is emphatic: “will certainly not.”
9 sn A quotation from Isa 28:16.
7 sn Here all flesh is a metaphor for humanity – human beings as both frail and temporary.
8 tn Or “a wildflower.”
10 tn Grk “a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.” The latter phrase uses the term σκάνδαλον (skandalon), denoting an obstacle to faith, something that arouses anger and rejection.
11 sn A quotation from Isa 8:14.
12 tn Grk “who stumble,” referring to “those who do not believe” in vs. 7. Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.
13 tn Grk “to which they were also destined.”
13 tn Grk “stop.”
16 tn Grk “but with courtesy and respect,” continuing the command of v. 15. Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.
17 tn Grk “when you are spoken against.”
19 tn Grk “keeping your conduct good.”
20 tn Grk “the Gentiles,” used here of those who are not God’s people.
21 tn Grk “in order that in what they malign you.”
22 tn Or “when he visits.” Grk “in the day of visitation,” denoting a time when God intervenes directly in human affairs, either for blessing (Luke 1:68, 78; 7:16; 19:44) or for judgment (Isa 10:3; Jer 6:15). This phrase may be a quotation from Isa 10:3, in which case judgment is in view here. But blessing seems to be the point, since part of the motive for good behavior is winning the non-Christian over to the faith (as in 3:1; also apparently in 3:15; cf. Matt 5:16).
22 tn Grk “not returning…but blessing,” continuing the sense of command from the preceding.
23 tn The direct object “others” is omitted but implied in Greek, and must be supplied to suit English style.
25 tn This reflects a Greek participle, literally “having been disobedient formerly,” that refers to the “spirits” in v. 19. Many translations take this as adjectival describing the spirits (“who had once been disobedient”; cf. NASB, NIV, NKJV, NLT, NRSV, TEV), but the grammatical construction strongly favors an adverbial interpretation describing the time of the preaching, as reflected above.
26 tn Grk “the patience of God waited.”
27 tn Grk “in which,” referring to the ark; the referent (the ark) has been specified in the translation for clarity. Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.
28 tc Many
29 tn Grk “the Spirit of glory and of God.”
30 sn A quotation taken from Isa 11:2.
31 tn Grk “if anyone speaks – as God’s words.”
32 tn Or “oracles.”
33 tn Grk “if anyone serves – with strength…”
34 tn Grk “is/are.”