1Pe 3:20 | NETfull | STEP | after they were disobedient long ago when God patiently waited in the days of Noah as an ark was being constructed. In the ark a few, that is eight souls, were delivered through water.

1 Peter 3:20

20 after they were disobedient long ago ^{▼▼ This reflects a Greek participle, literally “having been disobedient formerly,” that refers to the “spirits” in v. 19. Many translations take this as adjectival describing the spirits (“who had once been disobedient”; cf. NASB, NIV, NKJV, NLT, NRSV, TEV), but the grammatical construction strongly favors an adverbial interpretation describing the time of the preaching, as reflected above.} when God patiently waited ^{▼▼ Grk “the patience of God waited.”} in the days of Noah as an ark was being constructed. In the ark ^{▼▼ Grk “in which,” referring to the ark; the referent (the ark) has been specified in the translation for clarity. Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.} a few, that is eight souls, were delivered through water.