SIL Translator’s Notes on 2 Peter 2000 – Page 6

SIL Translator's Notes on 2 Peter 3:9

3:9b

patient with you: Peter once again addressed his readers directly with the pronoun “you.” Perhaps the false teachers were influencing some of the people to whom Peter wrote this letter, and so he appealed directly to the people who would read his letter, rather than saying “patient with people.”

3:9c

perish: The Greek verb here belongs to the same group of words as the word translated “destruction” in 2:1e. See the note in that verse.

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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.

SIL Translator's Notes on 2 Peter 2:9

2:9

This is what Peter used the examples in 2:4–8 to prove. The three examples show that God will punish wicked people and rescue good people.

2:9a

if all this is so: These words are not in the Greek text, but Berean Standard Bible includes them to show that Peter was now stating what all that he had said from verse 4 to 8 proved. The Display line of 2:9a shows a longer way to express this link. Here is a short way to express this link:

therefore

the Lord knows how to: The meaning here is not just that God knows how to rescue godly people, but that he will certainly do it. It could also mean “he is accustomed to do it.”

the Lord: Here the Lord refers to God, not Jesus, and it may be necessary for you to translate it as “Lord God” to make this clear.

the godly: This is the opposite of the word translated “ungodly” in 2:5, 6. Godly people are those who do fear God and, as a result, behave in the way God wants them to. See also the note on “godliness” in 1:3a.

trials: Peter was thinking here about how Christians suffer when they live in a pagan society.

2:9b

to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment: The literal meaning of this part of the verse is “to keep the wicked, being punished, for the day of judgment.” This part of the verse probably means one of two things:

(1) God is guarding wicked people carefully to prevent them from escaping so that he will be able to judge them on the Day of Judgement, when he will judge everyone. At the same time, he is already punishing them. The participle “being punished” is present tense which normally shows that the action is happening at the same time as the main verb (in this verse the main verb is “kept,” which the Berean Standard Bible translates as hold). For example:

how to keep the wicked under punishment for the Day of Judgement (Good News Translation)
-or-
and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgement (Revised Standard Version)

(New International Version (2011 Revision), Good News Translation, Revised Standard Version)

(2) God will finally condemn and punish wicked people on the Day of Judgement. Until then, he will guard them to prevent them from escaping. The present participle can have a future sense, and the words “judge” and “punish” usually refer to the final judgement, so some scholars believe that it is future punishment which Peter has referred to here.

and how to reserve his punishment for the wicked until their day comes (Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English)
-or-
and hold the wicked for their punishment until the day of Judgement (The Jerusalem Bible)

(Berean Standard Bible, Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English, The Jerusalem Bible)

It is recommended that you follow the first interpretation (1), which is in the Meaning Line of the Display.

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SIL Translator's Notes on 2 Peter 1:8

1:8

In this verse Peter told what good results would come if Christians did the things he wrote about in 1:5–7. In the next verse he told about the bad results that would come if they did not do those things.

1:8b

ineffective: This means “useless, unable to do anything good.”

unproductive: This is similar in meaning to “ineffective” and means “barren, not producing anything good.”

Berean Standard Bible translates these two words in a way that emphasizes their negative meaning. “Ineffective” means “not effective” and unproductive means “not productive.” It is also possible to translate the words in a way that expresses a positive meaning. For example:

you will be useful and productive
-or-
they will make you active and effective (Good News Translation)

in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ: This may mean one of two things:

(1) “concerning your knowing the Lord Jesus Christ.” If this is what Peter was saying, he meant that knowing Jesus Christ would result in people living in a good way. For example:

knowing our Lord Jesus Christ has not made your lives either complacent or unproductive. (Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English)

(2) “towards knowing the Lord Jesus Christ.” If this is what Peter was saying, he meant that if people lived in a good way, it would result in them knowing Jesus Christ even better. For exmaple:

they will bring you to a real knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. (The Jerusalem Bible)

It is recommended that you follow the first interpretation.

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SIL Translator's Notes on 2 Peter 2:20

2:20–22

It is not clear about whom Peter was speaking in these verses.

(1) He may have been referring to the false teachers. This is the most natural way to understand the Greek. Some English versions use the pronoun “they” here. As the false teachers have been the main subject of the verses which precede this verse, it seems that these versions follow this interpretation.

(Berean Standard Bible, New International Version (2011 Revision), Revised Standard Version, Contemporary English Version)

(2) Some scholars say that Peter was referring to the people who had recently become Christians. Peter used the same verb (Berean Standard Bible “escaped”) in this verse as he had used in verse 18 when speaking of those who had recently become Christians.

(3) Or perhaps he was stating generally that if any person who had become a Christian returned to pagan ways, the result for him would be worse than if he had remained a pagan and had never become a Christian in the first place. Some versions translate the subject as referring to people in general. For example:

anyone (The Jerusalem Bible)
-or-
men (Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English)

(The Jerusalem Bible, Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English, Good News Translation)

This whole chapter has described the false teachers, and they are the subject of verses 18 and 19, so it seems most likely that verse 20 also refers to these teachers, though Peter’s words are also true about anyone who has turned away from following Christ. The Notes follow this interpretation. According to this interpretation, “If” at the beginning of the verse is stating a fact (as in 2:4). It is not referring to something that may or may not have happened. (See the last paragraph of the note in the introduction to 2:4–10a).

2:20

In the Greek, and in Berean Standard Bible, New International Version (2011 Revision), and Good News Translation, this verse is one sentence, but you will probably need to break it into two or more sentences.

In the Greek text the word gar, which some versions translate as “for,” shows how Peter linked this verse to the verses which preceded it. Other versions like Berean Standard Bible, New International Version (2011 Revision), Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version leave the relationship implicit.

2:20a

corruption: Literally “defilement, pollution.” The Greek word that Peter used here is not the same as the one he used in 1:4b, but the underlying meaning is almost the same.

the world: This does not refer to the physical world which God created, but to the non-Christians among whom the people to whom Peter was writing lived. These people practiced many immoral customs which ruined people spiritually. When Peter wrote about the “corruption of the world” in this verse he was referring to such immoral customs. See also note on 1:4b.

2:20b

through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ: Peter has already used the expression the knowledge of several times in this letter (see 1:2, 1:8 and the notes on those verses). It is by means of coming to know Christ that a person is able to escape from living in the wicked way the non-Christians live.

2:20c

entangled: When used literally the Greek word which Berean Standard Bible translates entangled means “entwined.” It is the word used when a woman plaits her hair. Here Peter used it figuratively and it means “to be involved in, mixed up with.” This part of the verse says that the false teachers have once more got involved in the wicked way of living from which they had escaped when they came to know Christ.

overcome by it again: This is the same Greek verb as Peter used in 19c, where Berean Standard Bible translates it “mastered.” Here again Peter was saying that the false teachers, despite having once become free from the wicked things which non-Christians do, once more were allowing those things to control them.

2:20d

their final condition: This phrase refers to the time when Peter was writing, the time after the false teachers had turned away from the true Christian teaching which they once followed.

it was at first: This phrase refers to the time before they became Christians.

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SIL Translator's Notes on 2 Peter 1:19

Paragraph 1:19–21

The Transfiguration proved that the message about Jesus was true, but that is not all that proved it. The writings of the prophets also confirmed that this was a true message.

1:19a

We: This may refer to all believers. If it does, the pronoun is inclusive. Or it may refer to all the apostles, or just to the three apostles who had seen the Transfiguration. If the pronoun refers only to the apostles, it is exclusive. It seems more likely that the first interpretation is the correct one, because the words of the prophets in the OT are for all believers.

confirmed beyond doubt: The form of this word in the Greek text here can mean “very, very certain.” This meaning fits the context well. However some commentators think that here Peter was making a comparison and saying that people can now be even more confident that the words of the prophets are true than they could be before the Transfiguration because the apostles saw Moses and Elijah talking with Jesus at the Transfiguration. Here are some other ways that translate this:

so we have confirmation of what was said in prophecy (The Jerusalem Bible)
-or-
all this confirms for us the message of prophecy (New English Bible)

Peter referred to the words of the prophets to support what he taught about Christ’s return. In order to clearly communicate this, it may be necessary for you to include this implied information, as in the Display of 1:19a.

1:19b

a lamp shining in a dark place: Peter compared what the prophets wrote to a lamp shining in the darkness. Just as a lamp shining in a dark place shows people the right way to go, so the words that the prophets wrote will show people what is true and what is false.

1:19c

the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts: The type of lamp that Peter mentioned in 1:19b radiated light so that people could see until the morning star appeared and daylight returned. The morning star is the bright star (actually a planet, the planet Venus) which rises immediately before dawn. Does this star have a special name in your language? There are a number of examples in Scripture where the writers used similar metaphors in a way that shows that the morning star very probably refers to Christ. See Revelation 22:16 and Luke 1:78. In the same way that the morning star brings light to a dark world, the coming of Christ brings light into the hearts of believers and enables them to know God more fully. Peter was almost certainly thinking of Christ’s second coming, since “the day” in the NT usually referred to this, as in Romans 13:12.

General Comment about 1:19b–c: Here is one example of how you could translate 1:19b and 1:19c in order to clearly express all of the meaning of the metaphors:

You should listen well to those words until our Lord Jesus Christ returns. His coming will bring light like the dawn of a new day, and he will be like the morning star. At that time his light will shine in your hearts and reveal God to you clearly.

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SIL Translator's Notes on 2 Peter 3:10

3:10

Christ will return when no one is expecting him. At that time the universe will burn up and in that way God will completely destroy it.

3:10a

the Day of the Lord: In the OT this expression meant the day when God would defeat his enemies and punish them. But the people who wrote the NT used the expression to refer to the day when Christ would return to judge all people.

come like a thief: Christ will come suddenly, at a time when people do not expect him to come. It may be necessary to clearly state this in your translation, otherwise the people who read it might think that Peter was saying that Christ is like a thief. If many people who read your translation think that it is not good to compare Christ to a thief, even when someone explains the similarity to them, then you should omit the reference to a thief and just say what the verse means. You could say something like “he will come unexpectedly.” Peter put the verb “will come” at the beginning of the sentence in the Greek in order to emphasize that Christ will certainly come.

3:10b

with a roar: The Greek word that Berean Standard Bible translates roar means “a rushing or hissing sound,” for example, the sound that a bird makes when it flaps its wings, or the sound that water makes when it flows in a river. Here it describes the crackling and roaring sound of a big fire burning.

3:10c

the elements: Most commentators think this means the heavenly bodies, such as the sun, the moon, and the stars. But people in Peter’s time who spoke Greek also used this word to refer to the basic ingredients of the physical world such as earth, air, and water.

3:10d

the earth and its works: The majority of scholars understand this to refer to the contents of the earth, whether made by man or by God. Most English versions follow this interpretation. It is recommended that you do so too.

will be laid bare: There is a problem with the Greek text here. The English versions treat the problem in different ways:

(1) heurethōsetai “will be found.” Some Greek manuscripts say this. The difficulty with this word is to decide what it means in this context. Some scholars say it means that people’s deeds will be laid bare. At the time that God will judge people, he will expose the things that they have done. Others think that this is a rhetorical question: “Will the earth and everything in it be found?” With the implied answer: “No, certainly not.” Then it means “the earth and everything in it will not be found,” that is, they will have vanished.

(Berean Standard Bible, New International Version (2011 Revision), New Revised Standard Version, New English Bible)

(2) kataka?setai “will be burned up.” Some Greek manuscripts say this.

(Revised Standard Version, The Jerusalem Bible)

(3) Some translations have “will disappear,” “vanish” which is equivalent to translating the first interpretation above as a rhetorical question.

(Good News Translation, Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English)

Scholars are not certain what Peter wrote. It could be any of the three possibilities above. So it may be best to follow the choice of the major translation used in your area. If you are using footnotes, you should add a note mentioning what the other manuscripts say.

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SIL Translator's Notes on 2 Peter 2:10

2:10a

God will punish all people who do wrong. In verses 4–9, Peter had been talking about such people in general, but now in verse 10, he returned to the false teachers whom, he said, God would punish especially severely. He gave two reasons for this: their immoral behavior and the way they despised authority.

the flesh: The Berean Standard Bible translates the Greek word literally as flesh. This refers to the fact that people want to do what their bodies desire to do, even if this is something wrong. In this verse, Peter was referring to sinful sexual behavior which causes people to think and behave in an impure way.

authority: This probably refers to the right that God and Christ have to rule people. Good News Translation: “and despise God’s authority.” But some scholars think it means the right that any person has to rule people. If these scholars are correct, Peter was talking about people who not only despised God’s right to rule people but also despised the right that humans, for example government and church leaders, have to rule other people.

Paragraph 2:10b–13a

Peter was saying that the false teachers did all kinds of wicked things. They did not show respect for anyone, not even those greater than themselves. They behaved like wild animals, doing only what their bodies desired to do. Because they were so evil, and because they enticed others to behave as they themselves did, God would destroy them.

2:10b

Bold: This word can mean “courageous,” which is something good. But here it described people who dared to do all kinds of wrong things because they did not respect and fear God as people should respect and fear him, and because they did not care about other people.

self-willed: This word described people who were proud and stubborn. They did not listen to anyone else. Instead, they did exactly what they wanted to do.

2:10c

unafraid to slander: Most versions interpret these words like Berean Standard Bible in a way that refers to only one action. This is the most likely interpretation. Here is another example:

are not afraid of offending the glorious ones (The Jerusalem Bible)

Good News Translation follows the other interpretation and refers to two actions:

“they show no respect—instead they insult them.”

glorious beings: The literal meaning of the Greek is “glorious ones.” It is difficult to know to whom Peter was referring. The word may refer to:

(1) angels or other heavenly beings, maybe the wicked angels that Peter mentioned in verse 4. The parallel verses 8–11 in Jude clearly refer to angels.

(2) important people such as emperors, magistrates, or important church leaders. But this is less likely since the word usually refers to spiritual beings.

If possible, it is better to choose a neutral expression which could refer to any living beings, heavenly or human leaders. But if this is impossible, choose one of these interpretations and translate it that way. Then if you are using footnotes, explain the other interpretation in a note.

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SIL Translator's Notes on 2 Peter 1:9

1:9a

Here Peter was not talking about problems that people have with their physical eyes. Instead, he was using metaphors to describe spiritual blindness. When people say that a person is spiritually blind, they mean that he does not understand about God or about living God’s way. One thing that people should understand about living God’s way is that after God has forgiven them for sinning against him, they should live in a way which pleases him. Peter wrote that people who do not understand this are like blind people.

nearsighted to the point of blindness: These are two kinds of eye problems. When a person is nearsighted, he can see clearly only things which are very near to him. When referring to a person’s blindness, this indicates that he is completely unable to see. Good News Translation combines the two:

so short-sighted that he cannot see (Good News Translation)

The most important thing to do when you are translating this part of this verse is to check that the people who will read your translation understand that Peter was writing about spiritual blindness.

1:9b

cleansed from his past sins: The Greek verb here, which Berean Standard Bible translates as cleansed, means “to be made clean.” The New Testament often talks about a Christian being “cleansed” from his sins (see Titus 2:14). Many scholars believe that Peter is here talking about baptism, but it is probably best to translate this verb as “forgiven” in this context. (For more discussion on this word and other possible ways of translating it, see 1:9 in the UBS Handbook Handbook on the Letter from Jude and the Second Letter from Peter.)

Paragraph 1:10–11

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Source: SIL Translator's Notes on 2 Peter 2000

SIL Translator's Notes on 2 Peter 3:9

SIL Translator's Notes on 2 Peter 2:9

SIL Translator's Notes on 2 Peter 1:8

SIL Translator's Notes on 2 Peter 2:20

SIL Translator's Notes on 2 Peter 1:19

SIL Translator's Notes on 2 Peter 3:10

SIL Translator's Notes on 2 Peter 2:10

SIL Translator's Notes on 2 Peter 1:9

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