3:11a

This verse part is a quotation of Psalm 34:14a.

He must turn from evil and do good: The verb phrases in this verse part say the same thing in different ways.

turn from evil: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as turn from evil means to avoid evil, that is, to refrain from doing anything that is morally wrong.

Some other ways to translate this are:

Instead of doing evil, he must do what is right
-or-
Give up your evil ways and do right (Contemporary English Version)

3:11b

This verse part is a quotation of Psalm 34:14b.

he must seek peace and pursue it: This clause is also a poetic doublet. The Good News Translation combines the two verbs into one:

you must strive for peace with all your heart (Good News Translation)

he must seek peace: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as he must seek peace means “he must work to make peace.” It is also possible to translate this as:

he must try to live peacefully

peace: Here, peace refers to peace with other people, that is, good relationships.

pursue it: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as pursue it here means to make a strong effort to live in peace. Some other ways this phrase can be translated include:

work to maintain it (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
strive for it

© 2018 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.