The meaning of darkness and light is here made clear, as Peter contrasts the previous condition of his readers to their present state. In doing this, he draws heavily from the book of (Hosea 2.23; 1.6, 9; 2.1). You were not God’s people is literally “you were no people.” In Hosea 1.10, Hosea’s son is called lo-ammi (“not my people”) to show God’s displeasure against Israel, but in 2.1 (or 1.12 in the Hebrew text) the name has been changed to “my people,” and in 2.23b (or 2.22 in Hebrew) we have “and I will say to Not my people, ‘you are my people…’ ” (Revised Standard Version). This Old Testament background clearly indicates that “no people” should be understood in terms of the believers’ relationship to God; they were “no people” simply because they were not yet God’s people. As already noted, the word for people here (laos) is used only of Israel in the Old Testament; its usage for the Christian church indicates that Christians now have the same intimate relationship with God as Israel had in the past.

At one time should not be rendered in such a way as to suggest something completely indefinite. Obviously the reference is to a previous time; therefore, it may be important to render At one time as “at an earlier time” or “previously.”

Similarly, you did not know God’s mercy … you have received mercy is based on Hosea. In Hosea 1.6, Hosea’s daughter is named lo-ruhamah “Not pitied” (Revised Standard Version), but in 2.1 her name has been changed to ruhamah “she has obtained pity” (Revised Standard Version), and in 2.23b we read “And I will have pity on Not pitied…” (Revised Standard Version).

You did not know God’s mercy represents a Greek perfect passive participle preceded by a word (literally “you have not been pitied”) the sense of which is captured by the Good News Translation‘s use of the verb know (compare Phillips “you had no experience of his mercy”; Barclay “there was no mercy for you”). Mercy combines the elements of “pity,” “compassion,” and “concern”; it is an attitude expressed through concrete acts. The implicit source of this mercy is God, and many translations make this fact explicit (for example, Good News Translation, New English Bible, Phillips, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch “God’s compassion”; compare Biblia Dios Habla Hoy “before no one had compassion on you”).

You did not know God’s mercy may be rendered as “you had not experienced God’s mercy” or “… experienced how merciful God is” or “… how kind God is.”

You have received his mercy also represents one word in the Greek, this time an aorist passive participle. The use of now to introduce the clause, however, indicates that this participle should be interpreted as describing the present state of the believers, a state which is a result of something which happened in the immediate past, namely, their conversion to Christianity. Accordingly, the perfect tense renders the meaning of the aorist participle very well. (See also New English Bible, New American Bible, Jerusalem Bible, Barclay.)

But now you have received his mercy may be rendered as “now you have experienced how kind he is” or “… how good he has been to you.” In order to indicate something more of the compassion involved in mercy, some languages prefer a figurative expression, for example, “how God’s heart goes out to you” or “how God feels in his inward parts for you” or “how God feels pity within himself for you.”

Quoted with permission from Arichea, Daniel C. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The First Letter from Peter. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1980. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .