4 Coming to Him, a living stone—rejected by men but chosen and valuable to God— 5 you yourselves, as living stones, are being built into a spiritual house for a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God g through Jesus Christ. 6 For it is contained in Scripture:

Look! I lay a stone in * Zion, h

a chosen and honored i cornerstone, j k

and the one who believes in Him

will never be put to shame! l m n

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, o p

8 and

A stone to stumble over, q

and a rock to trip over. r s t

They stumble because they disobey the message; they were destined u for this.

9 But you are a chosen race, v w x a royal priesthood, y z

a holy nation, a b a people for His possession, c d

so that you may proclaim the praises e f g

of the One who called you out of darkness

into His marvelous light. h

10 Once you were not a people,

but now you are God’s people;

you had not received mercy, i

but now you have received mercy.