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The Bloody City

22 The word of the Lord came to me: You, mortal, will you judge, will you judge the bloody city? Then declare to it all its abominable deeds.(A) You shall say: Thus says the Lord God: A city! Shedding blood within itself; its time has come; making its idols, defiling itself. You have become guilty by the blood that you have shed and defiled by the idols that you have made; you have brought your days near; the appointed time of your years has come. Therefore I have made you a disgrace before the nations and a mockery to all the countries. Those who are near and those who are far from you will mock you, you infamous one, full of tumult.

The princes of Israel in you, everyone according to his power, have been bent on shedding blood.(B) Father and mother are treated with contempt in you; the alien residing within you suffers extortion; the orphan and the widow are wronged in you.(C) You have despised my holy things and profaned my Sabbaths.(D) In you are those who slander to shed blood, those in you who eat upon the mountains, who commit lewdness in your midst.(E) 10 In you they uncover their fathers’ nakedness; in you they violate women during their menstrual periods.(F) 11 One commits abomination with his neighbor’s wife; another lewdly defiles his daughter-in-law; another in you defiles his sister, his father’s daughter.(G) 12 In you, they take bribes to shed blood; you take both advance interest and accrued interest and make gain of your neighbors by extortion, and you have forgotten me, says the Lord God.(H)

13 See, I strike my hands together at the dishonest gain you have made and at the blood that has been shed within you. 14 Can your courage endure, or can your hands remain strong in the days when I shall deal with you? I the Lord have spoken, and I will do it.(I) 15 I will scatter you among the nations and disperse you through the countries, and I will purge your filthiness out of you.(J) 16 And you shall be profaned within yourself in the sight of the nations, and you shall know that I am the Lord.

17 The word of the Lord came to me: 18 Mortal, the house of Israel has become dross to me; all of them, silver,[a] bronze, tin, iron, and lead. In the smelter they have become dross.(K) 19 Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because you have all become dross, I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem. 20 As one gathers silver, bronze, iron, lead, and tin into a smelter, to blow the fire upon them in order to melt them, so I will gather you in my anger and in my wrath, and I will put you in and melt you. 21 I will gather you and blow upon you with the fire of my wrath, and you shall be melted within it. 22 As silver is melted in a smelter, so you shall be melted in it, and you shall know that I the Lord have poured out my wrath upon you.(L)

23 The word of the Lord came to me: 24 Mortal, say to it: You are a land that is not cleansed, not rained upon in the day of indignation. 25 Its princes[b] within it are like a roaring lion tearing the prey; they have devoured human lives; they have taken treasure and precious things; they have made many widows within it.(M) 26 Its priests have done violence to my teaching and have profaned my holy things; they have made no distinction between the holy and the common, neither have they taught the difference between the unclean and the clean, and they have disregarded my Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them.(N) 27 Its officials within it are like wolves tearing the prey, shedding blood, destroying lives to get dishonest gain.(O) 28 Its prophets have smeared whitewash on their behalf, seeing false visions and divining lies for them, saying, “Thus says the Lord God,” when the Lord has not spoken.(P) 29 The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery; they have oppressed the poor and needy and have extorted from the alien without justice.(Q) 30 And I sought for anyone among them who would repair the wall and stand in the breach before me on behalf of the land, so that I would not destroy it, but I found no one.(R) 31 Therefore I have poured out my indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath; I have returned their conduct upon their heads, says the Lord God.(S)

Oholah and Oholibah

23 The word of the Lord came to me: Mortal, there were two women, the daughters of one mother; they prostituted themselves in Egypt; they prostituted themselves in their youth; their breasts were caressed there, and their virgin bosoms were fondled.(T) Oholah was the name of the older and Oholibah the name of her sister. They became mine, and they bore sons and daughters. As for their names, Oholah is Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem.(U)

Oholah prostituted herself while she was mine; she lusted after her lovers the Assyrians, warriors[c](V) clothed in blue, governors and commanders, all of them handsome young men, mounted horsemen. She bestowed her sexual favors upon them, the choicest men of Assyria all of them, and she defiled herself with all the idols of everyone for whom she lusted.(W) She did not give up her prostitutions that she had practiced since Egypt, for in her youth men had lain with her and fondled her virgin bosom and poured out their lust upon her.(X) Therefore I delivered her into the hands of her lovers, into the hands of the Assyrians, for whom she lusted.(Y) 10 These uncovered her nakedness; they seized her sons and her daughters, and they killed her with the sword. Judgment was executed upon her, and she became a byword among women.(Z)

11 Her sister Oholibah saw this, yet she was more corrupt than she in her lusting and in her prostitutions, which were worse than those of her sister.(AA) 12 She lusted after the Assyrians, governors and commanders, warriors[d] clothed in full armor, mounted horsemen, all of them handsome young men.(AB) 13 And I saw that she was defiled; they both took the same way. 14 But she carried her prostitutions further; she saw male figures carved on the wall, images of the Chaldeans portrayed in vermilion,(AC) 15 with belts around their waists, with flowing turbans on their heads, all of them looking like officers—a picture of Babylonians whose native land was Chaldea. 16 When she saw them she lusted after them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea. 17 And the Babylonians came to her into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their lust, and after she defiled herself with them, she turned from them in disgust. 18 When she carried on her prostitutions so openly and flaunted her nakedness, I turned in disgust from her, as I had turned from her sister.(AD) 19 Yet she increased her prostitutions, remembering the days of her youth, when she prostituted herself in the land of Egypt 20 and lusted after her paramours there, whose members were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of stallions.(AE) 21 Thus you longed for the lewdness of your youth, when the Egyptians[e] fondled your bosom and caressed[f] your young breasts.(AF)

22 Therefore, O Oholibah, thus says the Lord God: I will rouse against you your lovers from whom you turned in disgust, and I will bring them against you from every side:(AG) 23 the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, Pekod and Shoa and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them, handsome young men, governors and commanders all of them, officers and select leaders, all of them riding on horses.(AH) 24 They shall come against you from the north[g] with chariots and wagons and a host of peoples; they shall set themselves against you on every side with buckler, shield, and helmet, and I will commit the judgment to them, and they shall judge you according to their ordinances.(AI) 25 I will direct my indignation against you, in order that they may deal with you in fury. They shall cut off your nose and your ears, and your survivors shall fall by the sword. They shall seize your sons and your daughters, and your survivors shall be devoured by fire. 26 They shall also strip you of your clothes and take away your fine jewels.(AJ) 27 So I will put an end to your lewdness and your prostitution brought from the land of Egypt; you shall not long for them or remember Egypt any more.(AK) 28 For thus says the Lord God: I will deliver you into the hands of those whom you hate, into the hands of those from whom you turned in disgust, 29 and they shall deal with you in hatred and take away all the fruit of your labor and leave you naked and bare, and the nakedness of your prostitutions shall be exposed. Your lewdness and your prostitutions(AL) 30 have brought this upon you, because you prostituted yourself with the nations and polluted yourself with their idols. 31 You have gone the way of your sister; therefore I will give her cup into your hand. 32 Thus says the Lord God:

You shall drink your sister’s cup,
    deep and wide;
it will bring scorn and derision;
    it holds so much.(AM)
33 You shall be filled with drunkenness and sorrow.
A cup of horror and desolation
    is the cup of your sister Samaria;
34 you shall drink it and drain it out
    and gnaw its sherds
    and tear out your breasts,

for I have spoken, says the Lord God.(AN) 35 Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because you have forgotten me and cast me behind your back, therefore bear the consequences of your lewdness and prostitutions.(AO)

36 The Lord said to me: Mortal, will you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Then declare to them their abominable deeds.(AP) 37 For they have committed adultery, and blood is on their hands; with their idols they have committed adultery, and they have even offered up to them for food the children whom they had borne to me.(AQ) 38 Moreover, this they have done to me: they have defiled my sanctuary on the same day and profaned my Sabbaths. 39 For when they had slaughtered their children for their idols, on the same day they came into my sanctuary to profane it. This is what they did in my house.(AR)

40 They even sent for men to come from far away, to whom a messenger was sent, and they came. For them you bathed yourself, painted your eyes, and decked yourself with ornaments;(AS) 41 you sat on a stately couch, with a table spread before it on which you had placed my incense and my oil.(AT) 42 The sound of a raucous multitude was around her, with many of the rabble brought in drunken from the wilderness, and they put bracelets on the arms of the women and beautiful crowns upon their heads.(AU)

43 Then I said, “Ah, she is worn out with adulteries, but they carry on their sexual acts with her.” 44 They have[h] gone in to her as one goes in to a prostitute. Thus they went in to Oholah and to Oholibah, wanton women. 45 But righteous judges shall declare them guilty of adultery and of bloodshed, because they are adulteresses, and blood is on their hands.(AV)

46 For thus says the Lord God: Bring up an assembly against them, and make them an object of terror and of plunder. 47 The assembly shall stone them, and with their swords they shall cut them down; they shall kill their sons and their daughters and burn up their houses.(AW) 48 Thus will I put an end to lewdness in the land, so that all women may take warning and not commit lewdness as you have done.(AX) 49 They shall repay you for your lewdness, and you shall bear the penalty for your sinful idolatry, and you shall know that I am the Lord God.

Footnotes

  1. 22.18 Transposed from the end of the verse
  2. 22.25 Gk: Heb A conspiracy of its prophets
  3. 23.5 Meaning of Heb uncertain
  4. 23.12 Meaning of Heb uncertain
  5. 23.21 Heb mss: MT from Egypt
  6. 23.21 Cn: Heb for the sake of
  7. 23.24 Gk: Meaning of Heb uncertain
  8. 23.44 Q ms: MT he has

Judgment on Jerusalem’s Sins

22 The word of the Lord came to me:

“Son of man, will you judge her? Will you judge this city of bloodshed?(A) Then confront her with all her detestable practices(B) and say: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: You city that brings on herself doom by shedding blood(C) in her midst and defiles herself by making idols, you have become guilty because of the blood you have shed(D) and have become defiled by the idols you have made. You have brought your days to a close, and the end of your years has come.(E) Therefore I will make you an object of scorn(F) to the nations and a laughingstock to all the countries.(G) Those who are near and those who are far away will mock you, you infamous city, full of turmoil.(H)

“‘See how each of the princes of Israel who are in you uses his power to shed blood.(I) In you they have treated father and mother with contempt;(J) in you they have oppressed the foreigner(K) and mistreated the fatherless and the widow.(L) You have despised my holy things and desecrated my Sabbaths.(M) In you are slanderers(N) who are bent on shedding blood;(O) in you are those who eat at the mountain shrines(P) and commit lewd acts.(Q) 10 In you are those who dishonor their father’s bed;(R) in you are those who violate women during their period,(S) when they are ceremonially unclean.(T) 11 In you one man commits a detestable offense with his neighbor’s wife,(U) another shamefully defiles his daughter-in-law,(V) and another violates his sister,(W) his own father’s daughter.(X) 12 In you are people who accept bribes(Y) to shed blood; you take interest(Z) and make a profit from the poor. You extort unjust gain from your neighbors.(AA) And you have forgotten(AB) me, declares the Sovereign Lord.(AC)

13 “‘I will surely strike my hands(AD) together at the unjust gain(AE) you have made and at the blood(AF) you have shed in your midst.(AG) 14 Will your courage endure(AH) or your hands(AI) be strong in the day I deal with you? I the Lord have spoken,(AJ) and I will do it.(AK) 15 I will disperse you among the nations and scatter(AL) you through the countries; and I will put an end to(AM) your uncleanness.(AN) 16 When you have been defiled[a] in the eyes of the nations, you will know that I am the Lord.’”

17 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 18 “Son of man, the people of Israel have become dross(AO) to me; all of them are the copper, tin, iron and lead left inside a furnace.(AP) They are but the dross of silver.(AQ) 19 Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: ‘Because you have all become dross,(AR) I will gather you into Jerusalem. 20 As silver, copper, iron, lead and tin are gathered into a furnace to be melted with a fiery blast, so will I gather you in my anger and my wrath and put you inside the city and melt you.(AS) 21 I will gather you and I will blow(AT) on you with my fiery wrath, and you will be melted inside her.(AU) 22 As silver is melted(AV) in a furnace, so you will be melted inside her, and you will know that I the Lord have poured out my wrath(AW) on you.’”(AX)

23 Again the word of the Lord came to me: 24 “Son of man, say to the land, ‘You are a land that has not been cleansed or rained on in the day of wrath.’(AY) 25 There is a conspiracy(AZ) of her princes[b] within her like a roaring lion(BA) tearing its prey; they devour people,(BB) take treasures and precious things and make many widows(BC) within her. 26 Her priests do violence to my law(BD) and profane my holy things; they do not distinguish between the holy and the common;(BE) they teach that there is no difference between the unclean and the clean;(BF) and they shut their eyes to the keeping of my Sabbaths, so that I am profaned(BG) among them.(BH) 27 Her officials(BI) within her are like wolves(BJ) tearing their prey; they shed blood and kill people(BK) to make unjust gain.(BL) 28 Her prophets whitewash(BM) these deeds for them by false visions and lying divinations.(BN) They say, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says’—when the Lord has not spoken.(BO) 29 The people of the land practice extortion and commit robbery;(BP) they oppress the poor and needy and mistreat the foreigner,(BQ) denying them justice.(BR)

30 “I looked for someone among them who would build up the wall(BS) and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found no one.(BT) 31 So I will pour out my wrath on them and consume them with my fiery anger,(BU) bringing down(BV) on their own heads all they have done, declares the Sovereign Lord.(BW)

Two Adulterous Sisters

23 The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, there were two women, daughters of the same mother.(BX) They became prostitutes in Egypt,(BY) engaging in prostitution(BZ) from their youth.(CA) In that land their breasts were fondled and their virgin bosoms caressed.(CB) The older was named Oholah, and her sister was Oholibah. They were mine and gave birth to sons and daughters. Oholah is Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem.(CC)

“Oholah engaged in prostitution while she was still mine; and she lusted after her lovers, the Assyrians(CD)—warriors(CE) clothed in blue, governors and commanders, all of them handsome young men, and mounted horsemen. She gave herself as a prostitute to all the elite of the Assyrians and defiled herself with all the idols of everyone she lusted after.(CF) She did not give up the prostitution she began in Egypt,(CG) when during her youth men slept with her, caressed her virgin bosom and poured out their lust on her.(CH)

“Therefore I delivered her into the hands(CI) of her lovers,(CJ) the Assyrians, for whom she lusted.(CK) 10 They stripped(CL) her naked, took away her sons and daughters and killed her with the sword. She became a byword among women,(CM) and punishment was inflicted(CN) on her.(CO)

11 “Her sister Oholibah saw this,(CP) yet in her lust and prostitution she was more depraved than her sister.(CQ) 12 She too lusted after the Assyrians—governors and commanders, warriors in full dress, mounted horsemen, all handsome young men.(CR) 13 I saw that she too defiled herself; both of them went the same way.(CS)

14 “But she carried her prostitution still further. She saw men portrayed on a wall,(CT) figures of Chaldeans[c] portrayed in red,(CU) 15 with belts(CV) around their waists and flowing turbans on their heads; all of them looked like Babylonian chariot officers, natives of Chaldea.[d] 16 As soon as she saw them, she lusted after them and sent messengers(CW) to them in Chaldea.(CX) 17 Then the Babylonians(CY) came to her, to the bed of love, and in their lust they defiled her. After she had been defiled by them, she turned away from them in disgust.(CZ) 18 When she carried on her prostitution openly and exposed her naked body,(DA) I turned away(DB) from her in disgust, just as I had turned away from her sister.(DC) 19 Yet she became more and more promiscuous as she recalled the days of her youth, when she was a prostitute in Egypt. 20 There she lusted after her lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of horses. 21 So you longed for the lewdness of your youth, when in Egypt your bosom was caressed and your young breasts fondled.[e](DD)

22 “Therefore, Oholibah, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will stir up your lovers(DE) against you, those you turned away from in disgust, and I will bring them against you from every side(DF) 23 the Babylonians(DG) and all the Chaldeans,(DH) the men of Pekod(DI) and Shoa and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them, handsome young men, all of them governors and commanders, chariot officers and men of high rank, all mounted on horses.(DJ) 24 They will come against you with weapons,[f] chariots and wagons(DK) and with a throng of people; they will take up positions against you on every side with large and small shields and with helmets. I will turn you over to them for punishment,(DL) and they will punish you according to their standards. 25 I will direct my jealous anger(DM) against you, and they will deal with you in fury. They will cut off your noses and your ears, and those of you who are left will fall by the sword. They will take away your sons and daughters,(DN) and those of you who are left will be consumed by fire.(DO) 26 They will also strip(DP) you of your clothes and take your fine jewelry.(DQ) 27 So I will put a stop(DR) to the lewdness and prostitution you began in Egypt. You will not look on these things with longing or remember Egypt anymore.

28 “For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am about to deliver you into the hands(DS) of those you hate, to those you turned away from in disgust. 29 They will deal with you in hatred and take away everything you have worked for. They will leave you stark naked,(DT) and the shame of your prostitution will be exposed.(DU) Your lewdness(DV) and promiscuity(DW) 30 have brought this on you, because you lusted after the nations and defiled yourself with their idols.(DX) 31 You have gone the way of your sister; so I will put her cup(DY) into your hand.(DZ)

32 “This is what the Sovereign Lord says:

“You will drink your sister’s cup,
    a cup large and deep;
it will bring scorn and derision,(EA)
    for it holds so much.(EB)
33 You will be filled with drunkenness and sorrow,
    the cup of ruin and desolation,
    the cup of your sister Samaria.(EC)
34 You will drink it(ED) and drain it dry
    and chew on its pieces—
    and you will tear your breasts.

I have spoken, declares the Sovereign Lord.(EE)

35 “Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Since you have forgotten(EF) me and turned your back on me,(EG) you must bear(EH) the consequences of your lewdness and prostitution.”

36 The Lord said to me: “Son of man, will you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Then confront(EI) them with their detestable practices,(EJ) 37 for they have committed adultery and blood is on their hands. They committed adultery with their idols; they even sacrificed their children, whom they bore to me, as food for them.(EK) 38 They have also done this to me: At that same time they defiled my sanctuary(EL) and desecrated my Sabbaths.(EM) 39 On the very day they sacrificed their children to their idols, they entered my sanctuary and desecrated(EN) it. That is what they did in my house.(EO)

40 “They even sent messengers for men who came from far away,(EP) and when they arrived you bathed yourself for them, applied eye makeup(EQ) and put on your jewelry.(ER) 41 You sat on an elegant couch,(ES) with a table(ET) spread before it on which you had placed the incense(EU) and olive oil that belonged to me.(EV)

42 “The noise of a carefree(EW) crowd was around her; drunkards(EX) were brought from the desert along with men from the rabble, and they put bracelets(EY) on the wrists of the woman and her sister and beautiful crowns on their heads.(EZ) 43 Then I said about the one worn out by adultery, ‘Now let them use her as a prostitute,(FA) for that is all she is.’ 44 And they slept with her. As men sleep with a prostitute, so they slept with those lewd women, Oholah and Oholibah. 45 But righteous judges will sentence them to the punishment of women who commit adultery and shed blood,(FB) because they are adulterous and blood is on their hands.(FC)

46 “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Bring a mob(FD) against them and give them over to terror and plunder.(FE) 47 The mob will stone them and cut them down with their swords; they will kill their sons and daughters(FF) and burn(FG) down their houses.(FH)

48 “So I will put an end(FI) to lewdness in the land, that all women may take warning and not imitate you.(FJ) 49 You will suffer the penalty for your lewdness and bear the consequences of your sins of idolatry.(FK) Then you will know that I am the Sovereign Lord.(FL)

Footnotes

  1. Ezekiel 22:16 Or When I have allotted you your inheritance
  2. Ezekiel 22:25 Septuagint; Hebrew prophets
  3. Ezekiel 23:14 Or Babylonians
  4. Ezekiel 23:15 Or Babylonia; also in verse 16
  5. Ezekiel 23:21 Syriac (see also verse 3); Hebrew caressed because of your young breasts
  6. Ezekiel 23:24 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.

Salutation

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,

To the exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who have been chosen and destined by God the Father and sanctified by the Spirit to be obedient to Jesus Christ and to be sprinkled with his blood:

May grace and peace be yours in abundance.(A)

A Living Hope

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead(B) and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.(C) In this you rejoice,[a] even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials,(D) so that the genuineness of your faith—being more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.(E) Although you have not seen[b] him, you love him, and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy,(F) for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.[c]

10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace intended for you made careful search and inquiry,(G) 11 inquiring about the time and circumstances[d] that the Spirit of Christ within them indicated when it testified in advance to the sufferings intended for Christ and the subsequent glory.(H) 12 It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in regard to the things that have now been announced to you through those who brought you good news by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look!(I)

A Call to Holy Living

13 Therefore prepare your minds for action;[e] discipline yourselves; set all your hope on the grace that Jesus Christ will bring you when he is revealed.(J) 14 Like obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires that you formerly had in ignorance. 15 Instead, as he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct,(K) 16 for it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”(L)

17 If you invoke as Father the one who judges impartially according to each person’s work, live in fear during the time of your exile.(M) 18 You know that you were ransomed from the futile conduct inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without defect or blemish.(N) 20 He was destined before the foundation of the world but was revealed at the end of the ages for your sake.(O) 21 Through him you have come to trust in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your trust and hope are in God.

22 Now that you have purified your souls[f] by your obedience to the truth[g] so that you have genuine mutual affection, love one another deeply from the heart.[h](P) 23 You have been born anew, not of perishable but of imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God.[i](Q) 24 For

“All flesh is like grass
    and all its glory like the flower of grass.
The grass withers,
    and the flower falls,(R)
25 but the word of the Lord endures forever.”

That word is the good news that was announced to you.(S)

Footnotes

  1. 1.6 Or Rejoice in this
  2. 1.8 Other ancient authorities read known
  3. 1.9 Or lives
  4. 1.11 Or the person and time
  5. 1.13 Gk gird up the loins of your mind
  6. 1.22 Or lives
  7. 1.22 Other ancient authorities add through the Spirit
  8. 1.22 Other ancient authorities read a pure heart
  9. 1.23 Or through the word of the living and enduring God

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,(A)

To God’s elect,(B) exiles(C) scattered(D) throughout the provinces of Pontus,(E) Galatia,(F) Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia,(G) who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge(H) of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit,(I) to be obedient(J) to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood:(K)

Grace and peace be yours in abundance.(L)

Praise to God for a Living Hope

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!(M) In his great mercy(N) he has given us new birth(O) into a living hope(P) through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,(Q) and into an inheritance(R) that can never perish, spoil or fade.(S) This inheritance is kept in heaven for you,(T) who through faith are shielded by God’s power(U) until the coming of the salvation(V) that is ready to be revealed(W) in the last time. In all this you greatly rejoice,(X) though now for a little while(Y) you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.(Z) These have come so that the proven genuineness(AA) of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire(AB)—may result in praise, glory and honor(AC) when Jesus Christ is revealed.(AD) Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him(AE) and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.(AF)

10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke(AG) of the grace that was to come to you,(AH) searched intently and with the greatest care,(AI) 11 trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ(AJ) in them was pointing when he predicted(AK) the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow. 12 It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you,(AL) when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you(AM) by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven.(AN) Even angels long to look into these things.

Be Holy

13 Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober,(AO) set your hope(AP) on the grace to be brought to you(AQ) when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming.(AR) 14 As obedient(AS) children, do not conform(AT) to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance.(AU) 15 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do;(AV) 16 for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”[a](AW)

17 Since you call on a Father(AX) who judges each person’s work(AY) impartially,(AZ) live out your time as foreigners(BA) here in reverent fear.(BB) 18 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed(BC) from the empty way of life(BD) handed down to you from your ancestors, 19 but with the precious blood(BE) of Christ, a lamb(BF) without blemish or defect.(BG) 20 He was chosen before the creation of the world,(BH) but was revealed in these last times(BI) for your sake. 21 Through him you believe in God,(BJ) who raised him from the dead(BK) and glorified him,(BL) and so your faith and hope(BM) are in God.

22 Now that you have purified(BN) yourselves by obeying(BO) the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply,(BP) from the heart.[b] 23 For you have been born again,(BQ) not of perishable seed, but of imperishable,(BR) through the living and enduring word of God.(BS) 24 For,

“All people are like grass,
    and all their glory is like the flowers of the field;
the grass withers and the flowers fall,
25     but the word of the Lord endures forever.”[c](BT)

And this is the word that was preached to you.

Footnotes

  1. 1 Peter 1:16 Lev. 11:44,45; 19:2
  2. 1 Peter 1:22 Some early manuscripts from a pure heart
  3. 1 Peter 1:25 Isaiah 40:6-8 (see Septuagint)