1 Peter 3:19
What does 1 Peter 3:19 mean?
A plain-English look at 1 Peter 3:19 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What 1 Peter 3:19 means
In the realm of the Spirit’s life and power, Christ also went and “preached” to the spirits in prison. Peter does not detail the timing or location, but he links these spirits to those mentioned in verse 20. The point is not evangelism to offer a second chance, but proclamation—Christ announcing His triumph and the reality of God’s judgment. Those who once defied God now confront the vindicated Lord. For suffering believers, this underscores that Christ’s victory extends beyond death’s boundary and that no rebellious power escapes His authority. The verse affirms both the completeness of His work and the moral order of God’s universe: disobedience meets judgment; righteousness, embodied in Christ, prevails.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000in which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison,
KJV
King James Version · 1611By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901in which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison,
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949By whom he went to the spirits in prison, preaching to those
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862in which also to the spirits in prison having gone he did preach,
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752In which also coming he preached to those spirits that were in prison:
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890in which also going he preached to the spirits [which are] in prison,
Context
This difficult statement follows the declaration of Christ’s death and being made alive in the spirit (verse 18). Verse 19 connects that resurrection sphere to a proclamation made to imprisoned spirits, identified in verse 20 as those disobedient in Noah’s day. Peter’s aim is pastoral: to assure readers that Christ’s lordship reaches the unseen realm and that God’s patience and judgment in Noah’s time still stand. The flow leads into the typological link with baptism (verse 21), using the flood narrative as a backdrop for salvation through judgment, and culminates with Christ’s exaltation in verse 22.
v.18Because Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God; being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;
v.19This passage
v.20that aforetime were disobedient, when the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water:
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- 1 Peter 1:11
searching what time or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did point unto, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glories that should follow them.
- Isaiah 61:1
The Spirit of the Lord Jehovah is upon me; because Jehovah hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
- Isaiah 49:9
saying to them that are bound, Go forth; to them that are in darkness, Show yourselves. They shall feed in the ways, and on all bare heights shall be their pasture.
- Revelation 19:10
And I fell down before his feet to worship him. And he saith unto me, See thou do it not: I am a fellow-servant with thee and with thy brethren that hold the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
- Revelation 20:7
And when the thousand years are finished, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
- Isaiah 42:7
to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison-house.
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