A Living Stone and a Holy People

2 ^(A)So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. ^2 (B)Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual ^(C)milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— ³ if indeed you have ^(D)tasted that the Lord is good.

⁴ As you come to him, a living stone ^(E)rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, ^5 (F)you yourselves like living stones are being built up as ^(G)a spiritual house, to be ^(H)a holy priesthood, ^(I)to offer spiritual sacrifices ^(J)acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. ⁶ For it stands in Scripture:

⁷ So the honor is for you who ^(M)believe, but for those who ^(N)do not believe,

⁸ and

They stumble because they disobey the word, ^(Q)as they were destined to do.

⁹ But you are ^(R)a chosen race, ^(S)a royal ^(T)priesthood, ^(U)a holy nation, ^(V)a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you ^(W)out of darkness into ^(X)his marvelous light. ^10 (Y)Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

¹¹ Beloved, I urge you ^(Z)as sojourners and exiles ^(AA)to abstain from the passions of the flesh, ^(AB)which wage war against your soul. ^12 (AC)Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, ^(AD)they may see your good deeds and glorify God on ^(AE)the day of visitation.

Lights in the World

¹² Therefore, my beloved, ^(A)as you have always ^(B)obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, ¹³ for ^(C)it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for ^(D)his good pleasure.

Children of God

²⁸ And now, little children, abide in him, so that ^(A)when he appears ^(B)we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his ^(C)coming. ²⁹ If you know that ^(D)he is righteous, you may be sure that ^(E)everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.

3 See ^(F)what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called ^(G)children of God; and so we are. The reason why ^(H)the world does not know us is that ^(I)it did not know him. ² Beloved, we are ^(J)God's children ^(K)now, and what we will be ^(L)has not yet appeared; but we know that ^(M)when he appears^{[a] (N)}we shall be like him, because ^(O)we shall see him as he is. ³ And everyone who ^(P)thus hopes in him ^(Q)purifies himself as he is pure.