1 Peter 2:4–12

⁴Coming 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.

A Call to Good Works

¹¹Dear friends, I urge you as strangers and temporary residents ^jto abstain ^kfrom fleshly ^ldesires that war against you. ^mn12Conduct ^oyourselves honorably among the Gentiles, ^pso that in a case where they speak against you as those who do what is evil, they will, by observing your good works, glorify God on the day of visitation. ^qr