to whom you are drawing near, a living stone rejected by men but chosen and precious in the sight of God. And you yourselves, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in scripture,

“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a chosen and precious cornerstone,
and the one who believes in him will never be put to shame.”[a]

Therefore the honor is for you who believe, but for those who refuse to believe,

“The stone that the builders rejected,
this one has become the cornerstone[b],”

and

“A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense,”[c]

who stumble because they[d] disobey the word to which also they were consigned. But you are a chosen race,[e] a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s possession, so that you may proclaim the virtues of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, 10 who once were not a people, but now are the people of God, the ones who were not shown mercy, but now are shown mercy.[f]

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Peter 2:6 A quotation from Isa 28:16
  2. 1 Peter 2:7 Literally “into the head of the corner”
  3. 1 Peter 2:8 A quotation from Isa 8:14
  4. 1 Peter 2:8 Here “because” is supplied as a component of the participle (“disobey”) which is understood as causal
  5. 1 Peter 2:9 Or “people,” or “generation,” or “nation”
  6. 1 Peter 2:10 This verse contains quotations from Hos 1:6, 9; 2:23