The Living Stone and a Holy People

2 Therefore, rid yourselves of^(A) all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all slander.^{(B) 2} Like newborn infants, desire the pure milk of the word,^[a](C) so that by it you may grow up into your salvation, ³ if you have tasted^(D) that the Lord is good.^{[b](E) 4} As you come to him, a living stone—rejected by people but chosen and honored by^[c] God— ⁵ you yourselves, as living stones, a spiritual house, are being built to be a holy priesthood^[d] to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God^(F) through Jesus Christ. ⁶ For it stands in Scripture:

⁷ So honor will come to you who believe; but for the unbelieving,

⁸ and

They stumble because they disobey the word; they were destined^(L) for this.

⁹ But you are a chosen race,^[i][j](M) a royal priesthood,^[k](N) a holy nation,^[l](O) a people for his possession,^[m](P) so that you may proclaim the praises^[n][o](Q) of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.^{(R) 10} Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; you had not received mercy,^(S) but now you have received mercy.

A Call to Good Works

¹¹ Dear friends, I urge you as strangers and exiles^(T) to abstain^(U) from sinful^(V) desires that wage war against the soul.^{(W) 12} Conduct^(X) yourselves honorably among the Gentiles,^[p] so that when they slander you as evildoers, they will observe your good works and will glorify God on the day he visits.^(Y)

¹³ Submit^(Z) to every human authority because of the Lord, whether to the emperor^[q] as the supreme authority^{(AA) 14} or to governors as those sent out by him to punish those who do what is evil and to praise those who do what is good. ¹⁵ For it is God’s will^(AB) that you silence the ignorance^(AC) of foolish people by doing good. ¹⁶ Submit as free people, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil,^(AD) but as God’s slaves.^{(AE) 17} Honor everyone. Love^(AF) the brothers and sisters.^(AG) Fear God.^(AH) Honor the emperor.

Submission of Slaves to Masters

¹⁸ Household slaves, submit to your masters^(AI) with all reverence^(AJ) not only to the good and gentle ones but also to the cruel.^{(AK) 19} For it brings favor if, because of a consciousness of God, someone endures grief from suffering unjustly. ²⁰ For what credit is there if when you do wrong and are beaten, you endure it? But when you do what is good and suffer,^(AL) if you endure it, this brings favor with God.

²¹ For you were called to this, because Christ also suffered^(AM) for you, leaving you an example,^(AN) that you should follow^(AO) in his steps. ²² He did not commit sin,^(AP) and no deceit^(AQ) was found in his mouth;^{[r](AR) 23} when he was insulted, he did not insult in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten but entrusted himself to the one who judges^(AS) justly. ²⁴ He himself bore our sins^(AT) in his body^(AU) on the tree;^(AV) so that, having died to sins,^(AW) we might live for righteousness.^(AX) By his wounds^[s](AY) you have been healed. ²⁵ For you were like sheep going astray,^[t](AZ) but you have now returned to the Shepherd^(BA) and Overseer^[u] of your souls.

Israel’s Restoration

33 While he was still confined in the guard’s courtyard,^(A) the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah a second time: ² “The Lord who made the earth,^[a] the Lord who forms it to establish it,^(B) the Lord is his name,^(C) says this: ³ Call to me and I will answer you^(D) and tell you great and incomprehensible things you do not know.^{(E) 4} For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says concerning the houses of this city and the palaces of Judah’s kings, the ones torn down for defense against the assault ramps and the sword:^{(F) 5} The people coming to fight the Chaldeans will fill the houses with the corpses of their own men that I strike down in my wrath and fury. I have hidden my face^(G) from this city because of all their evil. ⁶ Yet I will certainly bring health^(H) and healing to it and will indeed heal them. I will let them experience the abundance^[b] of true peace.^{(I) 7} I will restore the fortunes^[c] of Judah and of Israel and will rebuild them as in former times.^{(J) 8} I will purify them from all the iniquity they have committed against me,^(K) and I will forgive all the iniquities they have committed against me, rebelling against me. ⁹ This city will bear on my behalf a name of joy, praise, and glory^(L) before all the nations of the earth, who will hear of all the prosperity I will give them. They will tremble with awe because of all the good and all the peace^(M) I will bring about for them.

¹⁰ “This is what the Lord says: In this place, which you say is a ruin,^(N) without people or animals—that is, in Judah’s cities and Jerusalem’s streets that are a desolation without people, without inhabitants, and without animals—there will be heard again ¹¹ a sound of joy and gladness, the voice of the groom and the bride,^(O) and the voice of those saying,

as they bring thanksgiving sacrifices to the temple of the Lord. For I will restore the fortunes of the land as in former times, says the Lord.

¹² “This is what the Lord of Armies says: In this desolate place—without people or animals—and in all its cities there will once more be a grazing land where shepherds may rest flocks.^{(P) 13} The flocks will again pass under the hands of the one who counts them^(Q) in the cities of the hill country,^(R) the cities of the Judean foothills, the cities of the Negev, the land of Benjamin—the areas around Jerusalem and in Judah’s cities, says the Lord.

God’s Covenant with David

¹⁷ “For this is what the Lord says: David will never fail to have a man sitting on the throne of the house of Israel.^{(V) 18} The Levitical priests will never fail to have a man always before me to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings, and to make sacrifices.”^(W)

¹⁹ The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: ²⁰ “This is what the Lord says: If you can break my covenant with the day and my covenant with the night so that day and night cease to come at their regular time,^{(X) 21} then also my covenant with my servant David^(Y) may be broken. If that could happen, then he would not have a son reigning on his throne and the Levitical priests would not be my ministers.^{(Z) 22} Even as the stars of heaven cannot be counted, and the sand of the sea cannot be measured,^(AA) so too I will make innumerable the descendants of my servant David and the Levites who minister to me.”

²³ The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: ²⁴ “Have you not noticed what these people have said? They say, ‘The Lord has rejected the two families he had chosen.’^(AB) My people are treated with contempt and no longer regarded as a nation among them. ²⁵ This is what the Lord says: If I do not keep my covenant with the day and with the night, and if I fail to establish the fixed order of heaven and earth,^{(AC) 26} then I might also reject the descendants of Jacob and of my servant David. That is, I would not take rulers from his descendants to rule over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But in fact, I will restore their fortunes^[e] and have compassion on them.”^(AD)

Psalm 135

The Lord Is Great