Last week, we saw the first portion of an Old Testament quotation Peter used. Today, we see the rest of that quote. See it for yourself in 1 Peter 3:12.

Peter used Psalm 34:12-16, from the Greek version of the Old Testament, the Septuagint, to reinforce his point. Last week, we looked at the first portion of his quote. This week, we’ll memorize the rest.

Like last week, here is the passage Peter uses in its entirety:

Whoever of you loves life
    and desires to see many good days,
keep your tongue from evil
    and your lips from speaking lies.
Turn from evil and do good;
    seek peace and pursue it.
The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous
    and his ears are attentive to their cry;
the face of the Lord is against those who do evil,
    to cut off the memory of them from the earth.

As we stated last week, Psalm 34 is a good supporting text for Peter’s point because of several reasons. First, Psalm 34 encourages those who face persecution for righteous living. Second, the command to watch your tongue is exactly what Peter is stating in verses 8-9, so this Psalm makes an excellent support for that point as well. Also, the fact that God pays attention to the prayers of the righteous and the actions of evil people lends credence to Peter’s statement about our own behavior and prayer, as shown in 1 Peter 3:7 and 4:7.

This is all information and commentary shared with last week’s portion, but it bears repeating here. Peter is encouraging his readers to live righteously in the face of persecution and suffering. He calls us to do the same thing in our own lives as well.

Question: Are you facing any persecution or suffering in your life? How are you handling it? You can leave a comment by clicking here.