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)

²⁰ to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently^(A) in the days of Noah while the ark was being built.^(B) In it only a few people, eight in all,^(C) were saved^(D) through water, ²¹ and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you^(E) also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience^(F) toward God.^[a] It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ,^(G)