SIL Translator’s Notes on 1 Peter 5:4

5:4a

the Chief Shepherd: The phrase the Chief Shepherd is a metaphor for Jesus Christ. He is above all church leaders. In some languages it may not be clear that this expression refers to Christ. If that is true for your language, you should make this explicit. For example:

when Christ the Chief Shepherd (Contemporary English Version)

appears: The verb appears here refers to the time when Jesus will return to earth for everyone to see. Some other ways to translate this verb are:

comes (New Century Version)
-or-
returns (Contemporary English Version)

5:4b

you will receive: It is implied that the Chief Shepherd is the one who will give this crown. Here is another way to translate this:

our master, Christ, will give you (Easy English Bible)

crown of glory: There are two ways of understanding the Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as crown of glory :

(1) It means a crown that will consist of glory. For example:

glory, a crown that never fades (Revised English Bible)

(New Living Translation (2004), Revised English Bible)

(2) It means a glorious crown. For example:

a glorious crown (New Century Version)

(Contemporary English Version, New Century Version, Good News Translation)

It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1). The reward or crown that believers will receive will be glory. This is the natural meaning in the context, since in 5:1 Peter had mentioned sharing Christ’s glory. This is also the view of many commentators.

crown: The Greeks used to put a circle or garland of leaves on the head of the winner of a race as a sign that he was the victor. This was called the crown. Citizens who served their city well also received such a crown. It was a reward for having served well. Here Peter is using crown as a metaphor for the reward that God will give to his people.

glory: In this context, the Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as glory means “honor.” See how you translated glory in 4:14c and 5:1c.

never fade away: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as fade away describes the way in which flowers and leaves wither and die. Peter was contrasting a crown or garland of leaves to a “crown of glory.” Although a garland of leaves soon withers, the reward given to faithful church leaders will never spoil. It will last forever. See how you translated fade in 1:4. Some other ways to translate this word include:

never lose its brightness (Good News Translation)
-or-
never lose its beauty (New Century Version)
-or-
of never-ending glory (New Living Translation (2004))

© 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.

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