1Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind.
2Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation,
3now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.
4As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him—
5you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
6For in Scripture it says:“See, I lay a stone in Zion,
a chosen and precious cornerstone,
and the one who trusts in him
will never be put to shame.”
7Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,“The stone the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone,”
8and,“A stone that causes people to stumble
and a rock that makes them fall.”
They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for.
9But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
10Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
11Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul.
12Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.
