There is some divergence of opinion as to the identity of the prophets in these three verses. Some scholars would limit the reference to New Testament prophets, while others would interpret it broadly to include prophets in both the Old and the New Testament. A majority of interpreters, however, understand these prophets to be Old Testament ones, and this opinion seems to be preferred to the others. There is no article before prophets, and some have taken this to mean that their function is being emphasized; most interpreters, however, see the absence of the article as not significant.
The view expressed here about the function of the prophets was generally held in the early church. The Old Testament was looked upon primarily as prophecy, that is, as prediction of events which have been fulfilled by the coming of Christ and the establishment of the Christian church.
Rather than employ a so-called “anticipatory use” of It with the substantive clause that the prophets made careful search and investigation at the end of the clause, it may be more satisfactory to reverse the order, for example, “the prophets made careful search and investigation about this salvation.” The particular order of words in the Good News Translation text has been employed primarily to show the connection between verse 10 and verse 9.
The prophets, then, made careful search and investigation about the salvation mentioned in the previous verse. This represents two verbs in the Greek; some scholars understand a difference in their meaning, the first verb (ekzeteō) referring to the mystical side of what is being searched, and the second (exeraunaō) to its literary and theological aspects (see Selwyn, pages 133-134). The general consensus, however, is that these two verbs are synonymous, and serve to emphasize the thoroughness of the prophets’ search. The salvation which was the object of their search was of course not a fact, but a promise, and the Good News Translation makes this clear (so also New English Bible “This salvation was the theme which the prophets pondered and explored”; Moffatt; but note Phillips “The prophets of old did their utmost to discover and obtain this salvation”).
Rather than employ a double substantive expression search and investigation, it may be more satisfactory to employ a single expression for the investigation and add to this an intensifier, for example, “they carefully examined everything about this salvation” or “they studied very carefully to know all about this salvation.”
If salvation must be expressed as a verb, one may speak of this salvation as “this way in which God saves believers” or “… saves those who trust Christ.”
It is this careful investigation that enabled the prophets to prophesy about his gift that God would give. Literally about this gift is “concerning the grace.” “Grace” is used in many ways in the New Testament; in Paul it primarily means “God’s love” or “God’s favor,” but here, it refers primarily to the result of God’s love and favor, especially as it is now made available by God to non-Jews, and can be taken as synonymous with salvation itself. Accordingly, some translations make this clear (for example, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Phillips). On the other hand, many other translations simply translate the expression literally, leaving the meaning ambiguous.
It may be difficult to indicate clearly the relationship between this salvation and this gift. It may therefore be important to render the final clause of verse 10 as “they prophesied about this salvation which God would give you” or “they foretold this salvation as a kind of gift which God would give you.”
The verb prophesied could be understood as “predicted” or simply “announced” (hence, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy “spoke about”).
Quoted with permission from Arichea, Daniel C. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The First Letter from Peter. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1980. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .