1 Peter 1:22–2:10

²²By obedience to the truth, ⁿhaving purified yourselves ^ofor sincere love of the brothers, love one another ^pearnestly ^qfrom a pure ^rheart, ^s23since you have been born again ^t—not of perishable seed ^ubut of imperishable—through the living and enduring word of God. ^v24For

All flesh is like grass,

and all its glory ^wlike a flower of the grass.

The grass withers, and the flower falls,

²⁵but the word of the Lord endures forever. ^xy

And this is the word that was preached as the gospel to you.

The Living Stone and a Holy People

2So rid yourselves of ^zall malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all slander. ^a2Like newborn infants, desire the pure spiritual milk, ^bso that you may grow by it for your salvation, ^c3since you have tasted ^dthat the Lord is good. ^ef4Coming to Him, a living stone—rejected by men but chosen and valuable to God— ⁵you yourselves, as living stones, are being built into a spiritual house for a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God ^gthrough Jesus Christ. ⁶For it is contained in Scripture:

Look! I lay a stone in Zion, ^h

a chosen and honored ⁱ cornerstone, ^jk

and the one who believes in Him

will never be put to shame! ^lmn

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

The stone that the builders rejected—

this One has become the cornerstone, ^op

⁸and

A stone to stumble over, ^q

and a rock to trip over. ^rst

They stumble because they disobey the message; they were destined ^ufor this.

⁹But you are a chosen race, ^vwxa royal priesthood, ^yz

a holy nation, ^aba people for His possession, ^cd

so that you may proclaim the praises ^efg

of the One who called you out of darkness

into His marvelous light. ^h

¹⁰Once you were not a people,

but now you are God’s people;

you had not received mercy, ⁱ

but now you have received mercy.