The Living Stone and a Chosen People

⁴ As you come to him, the living Stone^(A)—rejected by humans but chosen by God^(B) and precious to him— ⁵ 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) 6} For in Scripture it says:

⁷ Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,^(I)

⁸ and,

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

⁹ 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.

⁶ For you are a people holy^(A) to the Lord your God.^(B) The Lord your God has chosen^(C) you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.^(D)

¹⁹ Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers,^(A) but fellow citizens^(B) with God’s people and also members of his household,^{(C) 20} built^(D) on the foundation^(E) of the apostles and prophets,^(F) with Christ Jesus himself^(G) as the chief cornerstone.^{(H) 21} In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple^(I) in the Lord. ²² And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.^(J)