who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.
Parallel translations
- WEB who in time past were no people, but now are God’s people, who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
- KJV 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.
- BSB Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
- NASB 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.
- NLT “Once you had no identity as a people; now you are God’s people. Once you received no mercy; now you have received God’s mercy.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Once they were not a people and had not received mercy, but now they are God's people who have received mercy. Believers' whole identity is the result of God's mercy.
Overview
Echoing Hosea, Peter describes the dramatic change God's mercy has made: outsiders have become his people, and the unpitied have obtained mercy. This is especially fitting for Gentile believers but applies to all who were once estranged from God. Everything they now are—God's people, recipients of mercy—they owe to God's gracious initiative in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Hos 2:23I will sow her to me in the earth; and I will have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy; and I will tell those who were not my people, ‘You are my people;’ and they will say, ‘My God!’”
- Hos 1:9–10He said, “Call his name Lo-Ammi; for you are not my people, and I will not be yours.
- Rom 9:25–26As he says also in Hosea, “I will call them ‘my people,’ which were not my people; and her ‘beloved,’ who was not beloved.”
- Heb 4:16Let us therefore draw near with boldness to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy, and may find grace for help in time of need.
- Rom 11:6–7And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work.
- Rom 10:19But I ask, didn’t Israel know? First Moses says, “I will provoke you to jealousy with that which is no nation, with a nation void of understanding I will make you angry.”
- 1 Tim 1:13although I was before a blasphemer, a persecutor, and insolent. However, I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.
- Rom 11:30For as you in time past were disobedient to God, but now have obtained mercy by their disobedience,
- 1 Cor 7:25Now concerning virgins, I have no commandment from the Lord, but I give my judgment as one who has obtained mercy from the Lord to be trustworthy.
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Christ at the center
The lamb without blemish foreknown before the world, who bore our sins in his body on the tree, by whose wounds we are healed — the Shepherd and Overseer of our souls.
How 1 Peter 2:10 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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