⁶ and you shall be to me a ^(A)kingdom of priests and ^(B)a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”

^5 (A)you yourselves like living stones are being built up as ^(B)a spiritual house, to be ^(C)a holy priesthood, ^(D)to offer spiritual sacrifices ^(E)acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

⁹ But you are ^(A)a chosen race, ^(B)a royal ^(C)priesthood, ^(D)a holy nation, ^(E)a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you ^(F)out of darkness into ^(G)his marvelous light.

^21 (A)And some of them also I will take for priests and for Levites, says the Lord.

^6 (A)Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such ^(B)the second death has no power, but they will be ^(C)priests of God and of Christ, and they ^(D)will reign with him for a thousand years.

²³ Are they ^(A)servants of Christ? ^(B)I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, ^(C)far more imprisonments, ^(D)with countless beatings, and ^(E)often near death.