1 Peter 2:1–25

¹Accordingly, put away all badness and all deceitfulness and hypocrisy and envies and all sorts of backbiting,²[and,] as newborn infants, form a longing for the unadulterated milk belonging to the word, that through it ​YOU​ may grow to salvation,³provided ​YOU​ have tasted that the Lord is kind.

⁴Coming to him as to a living stone, rejected, it is true, by men, but chosen, precious, with God,⁵YOU​ yourselves also as living stones are being built up a spiritual house for the purpose of a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.⁶For it is contained in Scripture: “Look! I am laying in Zion a stone, chosen, a foundation cornerstone, precious; and no one exercising faith in it will by any means come to disappointment.”

⁷It is to ​YOU, therefore, that he is precious, because ​YOU​ are believers; but to those not believing, “the identical stone that the builders rejected has become [the] head of [the] corner,”⁸and “a stone of stumbling and a rock‐mass of offense.” These are stumbling because they are disobedient to the word. To this very end they were also appointed.⁹But ​YOU​ are “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for special possession, that ​YOU​ should declare abroad the excellencies” of the one that called ​YOU​ out of darkness into his wonderful light.¹⁰For ​YOU​ were once not a people, but are now God’s people; ​YOU​ were those who had not been shown mercy, but are now those who have been shown mercy.

¹¹Beloved, I exhort ​YOU​ as aliens and temporary residents to keep abstaining from fleshly desires, which are the very ones that carry on a conflict against the soul.¹²Maintain ​YOUR​ conduct fine among the nations, that, in the thing in which they are speaking against ​YOU​ as evildoers, they may as a result of ​YOUR​ fine works of which they are eyewitnesses glorify God in the day for [his] inspection.

¹³For the Lord’s sake subject yourselves to every human creation: whether to a king as being superior¹⁴or to governors as being sent by him to inflict punishment on evildoers but to praise doers of good.¹⁵For so the will of God is, that by doing good ​YOU​ may muzzle the ignorant talk of the unreasonable men.¹⁶Be as free people, and yet holding ​YOUR​ freedom, not as a blind for badness, but as slaves of God.¹⁷Honor [men] of all sorts, have love for the whole association of brothers, be in fear of God, have honor for the king.

¹⁸Let house servants be in subjection to [their] owners with all [due] fear, not only to the good and reasonable, but also to those hard to please.¹⁹For if someone, because of conscience toward God, bears up under grievous things and suffers unjustly, this is an agreeable thing.²⁰For what merit is there in it if, when ​YOU​ are sinning and being slapped, ​YOU​ endure it? But if, when ​YOU​ are doing good and ​YOU​ suffer, ​YOU​ endure it, this is a thing agreeable with God.

²¹In fact, to this [course] ​YOU​ were called, because even Christ suffered for ​YOU, leaving ​YOU​ a model for ​YOU​ to follow his steps closely.²²He committed no sin, nor was deception found in his mouth.²³When he was being reviled, he did not go reviling in return. When he was suffering, he did not go threatening, but kept on committing himself to the one who judges righteously.²⁴He himself bore our sins in his own body upon the stake, in order that we might be done with sins and live to righteousness. And “by his stripes ​YOU​ were healed.”²⁵For ​YOU​ were like sheep, going astray; but now ​YOU​ have returned to the shepherd and overseer of ​YOUR​ souls.