4 As you come to him, a living stone—rejected by people but chosen and honored byD God—5 you yourselves, as living stones, a spiritual house, are being built to be a holy priesthoodE to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to Godf through Jesus Christ. 6 For it stands in Scripture:

See, I lay a stone in Zion,g

a chosen and honoredF cornerstone,h

and the one who believes in him

will never be put to shame.G,i

7 So honor will come to you who believe; but for the unbelieving,

The stone that the builders rejected—

this one has become the cornerstone,H,j

8 and

A stone to stumble over,

and a rock to trip over.I,k

They stumble because they disobey the word; they were destinedl for this.

9 But you are a chosen race,J,K,m a royal priesthood,L,n a holy nation,M,o a people for his possession,N,p so that you may proclaim the praisesO,P,q of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.r 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; you had not received mercy,s but now you have received mercy.