Psalm 34:12–16

He That Will Love Life

Quoted by the apostles in 1 Peter 3:10–12, in the older Greek wording

Side by Side

The Older Text

Septuagint, translated before Messiah (Psalm 33 in the Greek)

What man is there that desires life, loving to see good days? Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile. Turn away from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it. The eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.

The Later Text

Masoretic, finished about 1,000 years after the cross

What man is he that desireth life, and loveth many days, that he may see good? Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile. Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it. The eyes of Yahuah are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry. The face of Yahuah is against them that do evil.

Quoted in 1 Peter 3:10–12

The apostle’s Old Testament

For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile: Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it. For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.

Your KJV reads: the Hebrew in the Psalm (“upon the righteous,” “their cry”), then the Greek wording in 1 Peter (“over the righteous,” “their prayers”).

See what changed and why ↓

What Your Bible Says

For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.
1 Peter 3:12 KJV

Peter is teaching believers how to live among people who mistreat them: do not return evil for evil. He seals it with David’s psalm.

What the Jewish Bible Says

The eyes of Yahuah are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry. The face of Yahuah is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.
Psalm 34:15–16 KJV

David says the same thing. Yahuah watches the righteous, hears them, and sets His face against evildoers.

What Changed

Only small words. The Hebrew says “loveth many days, that he may see good.” The Greek says “loving to see good days.” The Hebrew says “upon” the righteous and “their cry.” The Greek says “over” and “prayer.” In each place Peter’s words follow the Greek. The meaning is the same in both texts.

Peter also turns David’s question into a direct word: “he that will love life … let him refrain his tongue.” That is the apostle shaping the quote for his readers, not a different text.

Purpose of the Change

No motive evident: wording variation only. The pair still matters because Peter quoted the Greek wording across five verses, the Old Testament his scattered readers knew.

The Bottom Line

Peter quoted the Greek. David and Peter teach the same life: no guile, do good, seek peace.

The people Yahuah keeps at the end are marked by the same tongue: “And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God” (Revelation 14:5).

Dig Deeper The evidence, for anyone who wants it

Where Peter Stopped

Both texts finish verse 16 with “to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth” (the Greek says “to destroy their memorial”). Peter stops before that line. He was urging patience toward enemies, not calling down judgment, so he left the judgment to Yahuah.

A Different Number

In the Greek Bible this is Psalm 33, not 34. Many Greek and Hebrew Bibles also count the title as verse 1, so there these lines are verses 13–17. The words are the same psalm.

The Way of the Torah

“Depart from evil, and do good” is the life the Torah describes. Peter does not set it aside for believers in Messiah. He holds it up as the way the delivered walk.