² Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk,^(A) so that by it you may grow up^(B) in your salvation, ³ now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.^(C)

The Living Stone and a Chosen People

⁴ As you come to him, the living Stone^(D)—rejected by humans but chosen by God^(E) and precious to him— ⁵ you also, like living stones, are being built^(F) into a spiritual house^[a](G) to be a holy priesthood,^(H) offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.^(I)

⁹ But you are a chosen people,^(A) a royal priesthood,^(B) a holy nation,^(C) God’s special possession,^(D) that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.^{(E) 10} Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God;^(F) once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.