1 Peter 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From Peter, ¹  an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those temporarily residing ²  abroad ³  (in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, the province of Asia, ⁴  and Bithynia) who are chosen ⁵ 

1 Peter 1:17

1:17 And if you address as Father the one who impartially judges according to each one’s work, live out the time of your temporary residence here ⁶  in reverence.

Genesis 23:4

23:4 “I am a temporary settler ⁷  among you. Grant ⁸  me ownership ⁹  of a burial site among you so that I may ¹⁰  bury my dead.” ¹¹ 

Genesis 47:9

47:9 Jacob said to Pharaoh, “All ¹²  the years of my travels ¹³  are 130. All ¹⁴  the years of my life have been few and painful; ¹⁵  the years of my travels are not as long as those of my ancestors.” ¹⁶ 

Leviticus 25:23

25:23 The land must not be sold without reclaim ¹⁷  because the land belongs to me, for you are foreigners and residents with me. ¹⁸ 

Leviticus 25:1

Regulations for the Sabbatical Year

25:1 The Lord spoke to Moses at Mount Sinai:

Leviticus 1:15

1:15 The priest must present it at the altar, pinch off ¹⁹  its head and offer the head ²⁰  up in smoke on the altar, and its blood must be drained out against the side of the altar.

Psalms 39:12

39:12 Hear my prayer, O Lord!

Listen to my cry for help!

Do not ignore my sobbing! ²¹ 

For I am dependent on you, like one residing outside his native land;

I am at your mercy, just as all my ancestors were. ²² 

Psalms 119:19

119:19 I am like a foreigner in this land. ²³ 

Do not hide your commands from me!

Psalms 119:54

119:54 Your statutes have been my songs ²⁴ 

in the house where I live. ²⁵ 

Hebrews 11:13

11:13 These all died in faith without receiving the things promised, ²⁶  but they saw them in the distance and welcomed them and acknowledged that they were strangers and foreigners ²⁷  on the earth.

[1:1]  ¹ tn Grk “Peter.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

[1:1]  ² tn Or “to those living as resident aliens,” “to the exiles.” This term is used metaphorically of Christians who live in this world as foreigners, since their homeland is heaven.

[1:1]  ³ tn Grk “in the Diaspora.” The Greek term διασπορά (diaspora, “dispersion”) refers to Jews not living in Palestine but “dispersed” or scattered among the Gentiles. But here it is probably metaphorical, used of Gentile Christians spread out as God’s people in the midst of a godless world.

[1:1]  ⁴ tn Grk “Asia”; in the NT this always refers to the Roman province of Asia, made up of about one-third of the west and southwest end of modern Asia Minor. Asia lay to the west of the region of Phrygia and Galatia. The words “the province of” are supplied to indicate to the modern reader that this does not refer to the continent of Asia.

[1:1]  ⁵ tn Or “to the chosen sojourners…” On this reading the phrases in v. 2 describe their entire existence as sojourners, etc., not just their election.

[1:17]  ⁶ tn Grk “the time of your sojourn,” picturing the Christian’s life in this world as a temporary stay in a foreign country (cf. 1:1).

[23:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “a resident alien and a settler.”

[23:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “give,” which is used here as an idiom for “sell” (see v. 9). The idiom reflects the polite bartering that was done in the culture at the time.

[23:4]  ⁹ tn Or “possession.”

[23:4]  ¹⁰ tn Following the imperative, the cohortative with the prefixed conjunction expresses purpose.

[23:4]  ¹¹ tn Heb “bury my dead out of my sight.” The last phrase “out of my sight” has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[47:9]  ¹² tn Heb “the days of.”

[47:9]  ¹³ tn Heb “sojournings.” Jacob uses a term that depicts him as one who has lived an unsettled life, temporarily residing in many different places.

[47:9]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the days of.”

[47:9]  ¹⁵ tn The Hebrew word רַע (ra’) can sometimes mean “evil,” but that would give the wrong connotation here, where it refers to pain, difficulty, and sorrow. Jacob is thinking back through all the troubles he had to endure to get to this point.

[47:9]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and they have not reached the days of the years of my fathers in the days of their sojournings.”

[25:23]  ¹⁷ tn The term rendered “without reclaim” means that the land has been bought for the full price and is, therefore, not subject to reclaim under any circumstances. This was not to be done with land in ancient Israel (contrast the final full sale of houses in v. 30; see the evidence cited in B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 174).

[25:23]  ¹⁸ tn That is, the Israelites were strangers and residents who were attached to the Lord’s household. They did not own the land. Note the parallel to the “priest’s lodger” in Lev 22:10.

[1:15]  ¹⁹ tn The action here seems to involve both a twisting action, breaking the neck of the bird and severing its vertebrae, as well as pinching or nipping the skin to sever the head from the main body. Cf. NASB, NRSV “wring off its head”; NAB “snap its head loose”; NLT “twist off its head.”

[1:15]  ²⁰ tn Many English versions have “it” here, referring to the head of the bird, which the priest immediately tossed on the altar fire. However, “it” could be misunderstood to refer to the bird’s body, so “head” is repeated in the present translation for clarity. As the following lines show, certain things needed to be done to the body of the bird before it could be placed on the altar.

[39:12]  ²¹ tn Heb “do not be deaf to my tears.”

[39:12]  ²² tn Heb “For a resident alien [am] I with you, a sojourner like all my fathers.”

[119:19]  ²³ tn Heb “I am a resident alien in the land.” Resident aliens were especially vulnerable and in need of help. They needed to know the social and legal customs of the land to avoid getting into trouble. The translation (note the addition of “like”) assumes the psalmist is speaking metaphorically, not literally.

[119:54]  ²⁴ tn Heb “songs were your statutes to me.”

[119:54]  ²⁵ tn Heb “in the house of my dwelling place.” Some take the Hebrew noun מָגוֹר (magor) in the sense of “temporary abode,” and see this as a reference to the psalmist’s status as a resident alien (see v. 19). But the noun can refer to a dwelling place in general (see Ps 55:15).

[11:13]  ²⁶ tn Grk “the promises,” referring to the things God promised, not to the pledges themselves.

[11:13]  ²⁷ tn Or “sojourners.”