2 So get rid of hatefulness and deception, of insincerity and jealousy and slander. ² Be like newborn babies, crying out for spiritual milk that will help you grow into salvation ³ if you have tasted and found the Lord to be good.

⁴ Come to Him—the living stone—who was rejected by people but accepted by God as chosen and precious. ⁵ Like living stones, let yourselves be assembled into a spiritual house, a holy order of priests who offer up spiritual sacrifices that will be acceptable to God through Jesus the Anointed. ⁶ For it says in the words of the prophet Isaiah,

⁷ To you who believe and depend on Him, He is precious; but to you who don’t, remember the words of the psalmist:

⁸ and of Isaiah:

They stumble because they don’t follow the word of God, as they were destined to do.

⁹ But you are a chosen people, set aside to be a royal order of priests, a holy nation, God’s own; so that you may proclaim the wondrous acts of the One who called you out of inky darkness into shimmering light. ¹⁰ Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received it.

¹¹ Beloved, remember you don’t belong in this world. You are resident aliens living in exile, so resist those desires of the flesh that battle against the soul. ¹² Live honorably among the outsiders so that, even when some may be inclined to call you criminals, when they see your good works, they might give glory to God when He returns in judgment.

¹³ For the Lord’s sake, accept the decrees and laws of all the various human institutions, whether they come from the highest human ruler ¹⁴ or agents he sends to punish those who do wrong and to reward those who do well. ¹⁵ You see, it is God’s will that by doing what is right and good you should hush the gabbing ignorance of the foolish. ¹⁶ Live as those who are free and not as those who use their freedom as a pretext for evil, but live as God’s servants. ¹⁷ Respect everyone. Love the community of believers. Reverence God. Honor your ruler.

¹⁸ If you are a slave, submit yourself to the master who has authority over you, whether he is kind and gentle or harsh as he deals with you. ¹⁹ For grace is clearly at work when a person accepts undeserved pain and suffering and does so because he is mindful of God. ²⁰ For what credit is there in enduring punishment you deserve? But if you do what is right and yet are punished and endure it patiently, God will be pleased with you. ^21-22 For you were called to this kind of life, as Isaiah said,

The Anointed One suffered for us and left us His example so that we could follow in His steps. ²³ When He was verbally abused, He didn’t return the abuse; when He suffered, He didn’t make threats to cause suffering in return; instead, He trusted that all would be put right by the One who is just when He judges. ²⁴ He took on our sins in His body when He died on the cross^[e] so that we, being dead to sin, can live for righteousness. As the Scripture says, “Through His wounds, you were healed.”^{[f] 25} For there was a time when you were like sheep that wandered from the fold, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your lives.