1 Peter 4:5
What does 1 Peter 4:5 mean?
A plain-English look at 1 Peter 4:5 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What 1 Peter 4:5 means
Those who mock or malign believers are not the last court of appeal. They will “give account” to the One poised to judge both the living and the dead. Peter confronts the illusion that present power or majority opinion decides truth. God’s judgment is universal and certain, reaching to every person and extending beyond death. This promise steadies Christians who suffer unjustly; it also warns persecutors. The Judge is already “ready,” so delay is not escape but patience giving space for repentance. Knowing that final reckoning belongs to God frees believers from revenge and keeps them faithful, trusting that justice will be perfectly and impartially done.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the living and the dead.
KJV
King James Version · 1611Who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead.
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the living and the dead.
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949But they will have to give an account of themselves to him who is ready to be the judge of the living and the dead.
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862who shall give an account to Him who is ready to judge living and dead,
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752Who shall render account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890who shall render account to him who is ready to judge [the] living and [the] dead.
Context
Verse 5 answers the slander of verse 4 by lifting the reader’s eyes to the final judgment. It follows naturally from the call to live for God’s will (vv. 1–2) and the rejection that such living invites (v. 4). This statement of accountability prepares for the difficult clarification in verse 6 about the gospel and the dead, ensuring that even death does not nullify God’s purposes. The sequence moves from present hostility to ultimate evaluation, strengthening believers to endure and setting the stage for hope beyond the grave.
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Acts 10:42
And he charged us to preach unto the people, and to testify that this is he who is ordained of God to be the Judge of the living and the dead.
- Malachi 3:13
Your words have been stout against me, saith Jehovah. Yet ye say, What have we spoken against thee?
- Ecclesiastes 12:14
For God will bring every work into judgment, with every hidden thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.
- Psalms 1:6
For Jehovah knoweth the way of the righteous; But the way of the wicked shall perish.
- Luke 16:2
And he called him, and said unto him, What is this that I hear of thee? render the account of thy stewardship; for thou canst be no longer steward.
- Matthew 25:31
But when the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the angels with him, then shall he sit on the throne of his glory:
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