Greetings from Peter
(2 Peter 1:1-2)

1Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,

To the elect sojourners of the dispersion of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, 2according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctification of the Spirit unto the obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ:

May grace and peace be multiplied to you.

A Living Hope

3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the One according to His great mercy having begotten us again to a living hope, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ out from the dead, 4to an inheritance imperishable and undefiled and unfading, being reserved in the heavens for you, 5who are being guarded by the power of God through faith, for the salvation ready to be revealed in the last time, 6in which you greatly rejoice, at present for a little while if it is being necessary, having been put to grief by various trials, 7so that the proven genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold, perishing though being refined by fire, may be discovered to result in praise and glory and honor in the revelation of Jesus Christ, 8whom not having seen you love, on whom now believing though not seeing you also exult with joy inexpressible and filled with glory, 9receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

10Concerning this salvation, the prophets sought out and searched out diligently, having prophesied of the grace toward you, 11inquiring into what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ in them was signifying, testifying beforehand of the sufferings of Christ and the glories after these, 12to whom it was revealed that they were serving not themselves, but you, in those things which now have been proclaimed to you by those having proclaimed the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit having been sent from heaven, into which angels desire to look.

A Call to Holiness
(Hebrews 12:14-17)

13Therefore having girded up the loins of your mind, being sober-minded, set your hope fully upon the grace being brought to you in the revelation of Jesus Christ, 14as children of obedience, not being conformed to the passions in your former ignorance. 15But as the One having called you is holy, be holy yourselves also in all your conduct, 16because it has been written: “You shall be holy, because I am holy.”a

17And if you call on as Father the One judging impartially according to the work of each, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your sojourn, 18knowing that you were redeemed from your futile manner of life handed down from your fathers, not by perishable things—by silver or by gold— 19but by the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, 20having been foreknown indeed before the foundation of the world, but having been revealed in the last times for the sake of you, 21who by Him believe in God, the one having raised Him up out from the dead and having given Him glory, so as for your faith and hope to be in God.

The Word of the Lord Stands
(Isaiah 40:6-8)

22Having purified your souls in obedience to the truth unto sincere brotherly love, love one another fervently, out of a pure heart,b 23having been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, by the living and abiding word of God, 24because,

“All flesh is like grass,

and all the glory of it like the flower of grass.

The grass withers, and the flower falls away,

25but the word of the Lord abides to the age.”c

And this is the word having been proclaimed to you.