002:001 Rid yourselves therefore of all ill-will and all deceitfulness,
of insincerity and envy, and of all evil speaking.
002:002 Thirst, like newly-born infants, for pure milk for the soul,
that by it you may grow up to salvation;
002:003 if you have had any experience of the goodness of the Lord.
002:004 Come to Him, the ever-living Stone, rejected indeed by men as worthless, but in God's esteem chosen and held in honour.
002:005 And be yourselves also like living stones that are being built
up into a spiritual house, to become a holy priesthood to offer
spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
002:006 For it is contained in Scripture, "See, I am placing on Mount Zion
a Cornerstone, chosen, and held in honour, and he whose faith
rests on Him shall never have reason to feel ashamed."
002:007 To you believers, therefore, that honour belongs; but for
unbelievers—"A Stone which the builders rejected has been
made the Cornerstone,"
002:008 and "a Stone for the foot to strike against, and a Rock to
stumble over." Their foot strikes against it because they are
disobedient to God's Message, and to this they were appointed.
002:009 But you are a chosen race, a priesthood of kingly lineage, a holy nation, a people belonging specially to God, that you may make known the perfections of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvellous light.
002:010 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God. Once you had not found mercy, but now you have.