1 Peter 3:8–18

Suffering for Righteousness’ Sake

⁸Finally, all of you, ^uhave unity of mind, sympathy, ^vbrotherly love, ^wa tender heart, and ^xa humble mind. ^9yDo not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, ^zbless, for ^ato this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. ¹⁰For

^b“Whoever desires to love life

and see good days,

let him keep his tongue from evil

and his lips from speaking deceit;

¹¹let him turn away from evil and do good;

let him seek peace and pursue it.

¹²For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,

and his ears are open to their prayer.

But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

¹³Now ^cwho is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? ^14dBut even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. ^eHave no fear of them, ^fnor be troubled, ¹⁵but ^gin your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, ^halways being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and ⁱrespect, ^16jhaving a good conscience, so that, ^kwhen you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. ¹⁷For ^lit is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.

¹⁸For Christ also ^msuffered^{2 n}once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, ^othat he might bring us to God, being put to death ^pin the flesh but made alive ^qin the spirit,