1 Rid yourselves, then, of all wickedness and all trickery, of pretenses and jealousies and backbiting of every sort,
2 and as babies just born, desire the unmixed milk of the word, so that by it you may grow,
3 if in fact you have tasted that the Lord is kind.
4 Drawing near to him, a living stone, cast aside indeed by men but with God chosen and held in honor,
5 you too, as living stones, are being built into a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to bring up spiritual sacrifices well-pleasing to God through Jesus Christ.
6 Hence Scripture contains this: "Behold, I set in Zion a chief cornerstone, chosen, highly valued; and the one who believes in him will by no means be disgraced."
7 For you who believe, then, he is precious; but for the disobedient, "The stone that the builders threw out has become the head of the corner,"
8 and "a stone to strike against and a rock to fall over." They stumble, being disobedient to the word, and to this they were also appointed.
9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people God has acquired, so that you may make known the virtues of the one who called you out of darkness into his astonishing light.
10 You were at one time no people, but are now the people of God; you were those who had not been shown mercy, but now have been shown mercy.
11 Beloved, I appeal to you as aliens and temporary residents: keep away from fleshly cravings, which campaign against the soul.
12 Keep your behavior among the Gentiles upright, so that in the very matter in which they speak against you as wrongdoers, they may, from watching your good works, glorify God in the day of visitation.
13 Submit to every human ordinance for the Lord's sake, whether to the king as the one over all,
14 or to governors as men sent through him to punish wrongdoers and to commend those who do good.
15 For such is the will of God: that by doing good you muzzle the ignorance of senseless men—
16 as free men, yet not holding your freedom as a veil for wickedness, but as God's servants.
17 Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.
18 House servants, submit to your masters in all fear, not only to the kind and fair-minded but to the perverse as well.
19 For this finds favor, if because of his conscience before God a man puts up with grief, suffering wrongfully.
20 For what renown is there if you sin and are beaten and bear it patiently? But if you do good and suffer and bear it patiently, this finds favor with God.
21 It was for this that you were called, since Christ also suffered on our behalf, leaving behind a model for us, so that you might walk in his tracks.
22 He did no sin, and no deceit was found on his lips.
23 Being abused, he did not return abuse; suffering, he made no threats, but committed his cause to the one who judges righteously.
24 He himself carried up our sins in his own body onto the tree, so that we, having parted from sins, might live for righteousness; by his stripe you were healed.
25 For you were like sheep wandering off, but now you have been turned back to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.