What Does 1 Peter 2:10 Mean in the King James?
Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The verse places belonging and compassion together as gifts received, not statuses you create for yourself.
THE MEANING
Your former lack of belonging does not name you now: you are God’s people. The compassion once absent is now received, so both identity and care stand before you as gifts.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Being outside God’s people means you are beyond mercy.
THE ROOT
ἐλεέω
eleeō
GROWS FROM
ἐλε-
To show compassion; to act mercifully.
“obtained mercy” in this verse is eleeō. Both Greek forms are passive: compassion is received, not self-produced. Peter’s wording echoes Hosea’s Hebrew expression for mercy, where a related root opens an image of tender, life-bearing care.
ALSO GROWS
eleos: Mercy, compassion.
ἔλεος
The related noun names the care now received.
eleēmōn: Compassionate, merciful.
ἐλεήμων
This related word describes the quality of the care expressed by the verse.
רָחַם
raḥam
GROWS FROM
ר־ח־ם
r-ḥ-m
To have compassion; to show tender regard.
“mercy in Hosea’s source wording” in this verse is raḥam. Hosea’s Hebrew uses this root in the promise Peter echoes. Its word family includes רַחֲמִים (raḥamim, compassion) and רֶחֶם (reḥem, womb), linking compassion with tender care that shelters life.
ALSO GROWS
raḥamim: Compassion.
רַחֲמִים
This noun names the compassion that was absent and is now received.
reḥem: Womb.
רֶחֶם
The shared root gives compassion the texture of tender, life-bearing care.
THE PATTERN
God’s belonging is given through a change of relation: those once outside are named and received as his people.
And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God.Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.THE THREAD
And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God.Peter’s two halves trace Hosea’s paired reversal: the one without mercy receives compassion, and those who were not a people are named God’s people. Hosea uses the Hebrew root רָחַם (raḥam, to have compassion), whose branches include compassion and womb.
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