complete verse (1 Peter 1:24)

Following are a number of back-translations of 1 Peter 1:24:

  • Uma: “Like what is written in the Holy Book long ago: ‘The life of mankind is like grass/small-plants, all their beauty is like the grass blossoms. Grass withers, its blossoms fall,” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “The holy-book says hep, ‘All mankind is like grass and all their fame like the flower of weeds. The grass withers and the flowers fall. Likewise mankind dies and does not remain.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “For there is a written word of God which says, ‘As for mankind, since his life is very short, he is like a weed. For his beauty is like the blossom of a weed. The weed quickly dries up, and its blossom falls.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “This also is what God caused-to-be-written which says, ‘All people, they are like weeds/grass, and their honor (i.e. wealth, rank, reputation), it is like its (the grass) flowers. Because grass, it withers, and its flowers, they fall,” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “For it is said in the writing, ‘As for all people, what they are like is weeds/grass, and their good-quality is only like the flowers of these weeds/grasses. For as for weeds/grass, it withers, and the blooms fall.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “It is written in the Holy Book, ‘All the people are like the plants because they come to an end. And the good they have in life is like the flowers of the plants because they come to an end. The plants dry up, then the flower falls.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

For the Old Testament quote, see Isaiah 40:6 – Isaiah 40:8.

Translation commentary on 1 Peter 1:24 – 1:25

The Old Testament quotation is from Isaiah 40.6-8, quoted from the Septuagint, with slight variations which may have been due to Peter’s use of manuscripts which contain such variations or to his habit of quoting from memory. As in 1.16 (and in 2.6) a scripture quotation is introduced by “for” (Greek dioti), and the Good News Translation has restructured the formula in order to signal to the reader that what follows is a quotation from the Scriptures.

The whole point of the quotation is that everything, including human existence, is transitory, in contrast to the permanent word of God. Most translations print these lines as poetry, as shown by the indention. Accordingly, it is quite possible to render these lines into poetry in the receptor language, using the proper and acceptable poetic form in that language.

All mankind is literally “all flesh,” but clearly refers to all people (compare Barclay “human life”; Knox “All mortal things”; Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch “all humans”; Biblia Dios Habla Hoy “all the human race”).

Glory is rendered as “splendour” (Barclay, New English Bible); “Whatever is beautiful about them” (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch); “greatness” (Biblia Dios Habla Hoy).

The verbs wither and fall are both aorist in the Greek, but most translations and commentaries take them as present in force and intention, and are accordingly translated as present.

The grass withers may be rendered simply as “the grass becomes dry.” And the flowers fall may be rendered as “and the flowers fall off.” It is important to avoid a word such as “fall” which would suggest “falling down,” as a person might fall down.

Of the Lord is “of our God” in the Septuagint; the change may have been due to the desire to link more closely the word to Christ, who is also described as Lord (compare 2.3). However, since this is a quotation from the Old Testament, it would be best to keep “Lord” here ambiguous, and not add either “God” or “Christ” to modify it.

The word of the Lord must of course not be “the word about the Lord” but “the word which the Lord has spoken.” In most languages one cannot translate “word” literally, since this might imply only a single spoken word. A more satisfactory translation is “the message which the Lord has proclaimed.”

The expression remains forever as a reference to the enduring quality of the word of the Lord may present certain difficulties, for it does not mean that a particular message of the Lord remains in one place forever, but that it “continues to be true forever.”

For “which was preached to you,” see 1.12.

This word is the Good News can be perhaps best expressed as “this message is the Good News,” and the passive clause that was proclaimed to you may be made active by employing the expression “the messengers of the Good News” as the subject of the clause (see verse 12), for example, “which the messengers of the Good News preached to you” or “… proclaimed to 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 .