Read the New Testament in 24 Weeks

1 ¶ Peter, apostle of Jesus, the Christ, to the strangers scattered in Pontus, in Galatia, in Cappadocia, in Asia, and in Bithynia,

² chosen (according to the foreknowledge of God the Father) in sanctification of the Spirit, to obey and be sprinkled with the blood of Jesus, the Christ, Grace and peace, be multiplied unto you.

³ ¶ Praised be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus, the Christ, who according to his great mercy has begotten us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus, the Christ, from the dead,

⁴ unto the incorruptible inheritance that cannot be defiled and that does not fade away, conserved in the heavens for you,

⁵ who are kept in the virtue of God by faith, to attain unto the saving health which is made ready to be manifested in the last time.

⁶ ¶ In which ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are afflicted in diverse temptations,

⁷ that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold (which perishes, nevertheless it is tried with fire), might be found unto praise and glory and honour when Jesus, the Christ, is made manifest;

⁸ whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though at present ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory;

⁹ receiving the end of your faith, even the saving health of your souls.

¹⁰ ¶ Of which saving health the prophets, (who prophesied of the grace that was to come in you) have enquired and searched diligently;

¹¹ searching when and in what point of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, which announced beforehand the afflictions that were to come upon the Christ, and the glory that should follow them.

¹² Unto whom it was revealed that not unto themselves, but unto us they did administer the things, which are now announced unto you by those that have preached the gospel unto you by the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven, which things the angels desire to look into.

¹³ ¶ Therefore, having the loins of your understanding girded with temperance, wait perfectly in the grace that is presented unto you when Jesus, the Christ, is manifested unto you,

¹⁴ as obedient sons, not conforming yourselves with the former desires that you had before in your ignorance,

¹⁵ but as he who has called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;

¹⁶ for it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.

¹⁷ And if ye invoke as Father, he who without respect of persons judges according to the work of each one, converse in fear the entire time of your sojourning here,

¹⁸ knowing that ye have been ransomed from your vain conversation (which you received from your fathers), not with corruptible things like silver and gold,

¹⁹ but with the precious blood of the Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without contamination,

²⁰ already ordained from before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for love of you,

²¹ who by him do believe God, who raised him up from the dead and has given him glory: that your faith and hope might be in God.

²² Having purified your souls in the obedience of the truth, by the Spirit, in unfeigned brotherly love, love one another with a pure heart fervently,

²³ being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which lives and abides for ever.

²⁴ ¶ For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls away,

²⁵ but the word of the Lord endures for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.

2 ¶ Having therefore left all malice and all guile and hypocrisies and envies and all murmurings,

² as newborn babes, desire the rational milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby in health;

³ if so be ye have tasted that the Lord is benevolent;

⁴ ¶ coming unto whom (is the living Stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious),

⁵ ye also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, well pleasing to God by Jesus, the Christ.

⁶ Therefore, also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion the chief corner stone, chosen, precious; and he that believes on him shall not be confounded.

⁷ Unto you, therefore, who believe he is precious; but unto those who are disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner,

⁸ and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, even to those who stumble at the word, not obeying in that for which they were ordained.

⁹ But ye are the chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, an acquired people, that ye should show forth the virtues of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.

¹⁰ Ye who in the time past were not a people, but are now the people of God, who in the time past had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.

¹¹ Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from the carnal desires which war against the soul

¹² and have your honest conversation among the Gentiles, so that, in that which they murmur about you as of evildoers, having witnessed your good works, they may glorify God in the day of visitation.

¹³ ¶ Therefore, be subject to every human ordinance that is of the Lord, whether it be to a king or to a superior,

¹⁴ and unto governors as unto those that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those that do well.

¹⁵ For this is the will of God, that in well doing ye may silence the ignorance of vain men,

¹⁶ as being free, yet not using your liberty to cover maliciousness, but as slaves of God.

¹⁷ Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king.

¹⁸ Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and humane, but also to the unjust.

¹⁹ For this is due to grace, if a man for conscience toward God endures grief, suffering wrongfully.

²⁰ For what glory is it if, when ye are buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is due to grace from God.

²¹ Because for this were ye called: for the Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps

²² who did no sin neither was guile found in his mouth,

²³ who, when he was cursed, did not return the curse; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but committed himself to him that judges righteously;

²⁴ he himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness; by whose wound ye were healed.

²⁵ For ye were as sheep that had gone astray, but are now converted unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.

3 ¶ Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands, so that also those who do not obey the Word, may be won without a word by the conversation of their wives,

² considering your chaste conversation which is in fear.

³ Let their adorning not be outward with ostentatious hairdos and wearing of gold nor in composition of apparel,

⁴ but let the interior adorning of the heart be without corruption, and of an agreeable spirit and peaceful, which is precious in the sight of God.

⁵ For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who waited upon God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands,

⁶ as Sara obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, of whom ye are made daughters, doing well and not being afraid of any terror.

⁷ Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them wisely, giving honour unto the woman, as unto a more fragile vessel and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers not be hindered.