The Stone

4-8 Welcome to the living Stone, the source of life. The workmen took one look and threw it out; God set it in the place of honor. Present yourselves as building stones for the construction of a sanctuary vibrant with life, in which you’ll serve as holy priests offering Christ-approved lives up to God. The Scriptures provide precedent:

Look! I’m setting a stone in Zion,
    a cornerstone in the place of honor.
Whoever trusts in this stone as a foundation
    will never have cause to regret it.

To you who trust him, he’s a Stone to be proud of, but to those who refuse to trust him,

The stone the workmen threw out
    is now the chief foundation stone.

For the untrusting it’s

. . . a stone to trip over,
    a boulder blocking the way.

They trip and fall because they refuse to obey, just as predicted.

9-10 But you are the ones chosen by God, chosen for the high calling of priestly work, chosen to be a holy people, God’s instruments to do his work and speak out for him, to tell others of the night-and-day difference he made for you—from nothing to something, from rejected to accepted.

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The Living Stone and a Chosen People

As you come to him, the living Stone(A)—rejected by humans but chosen by God(B) and precious to him— you also, like living stones, are being built(C) into a spiritual house[a](D) to be a holy priesthood,(E) offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.(F) For in Scripture it says:

“See, I lay a stone in Zion,
    a chosen and precious cornerstone,(G)
and the one who trusts in him
    will never be put to shame.”[b](H)

Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,(I)

“The stone the builders rejected(J)
    has become the cornerstone,”[c](K)

and,

“A stone that causes people to stumble
    and a rock that makes them fall.”[d](L)

They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for.(M)

But you are a chosen people,(N) a royal priesthood,(O) a holy nation,(P) God’s special possession,(Q) that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.(R) 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God;(S) once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Peter 2:5 Or into a temple of the Spirit
  2. 1 Peter 2:6 Isaiah 28:16
  3. 1 Peter 2:7 Psalm 118:22
  4. 1 Peter 2:8 Isaiah 8:14