| [an error occurred while processing this directive] | Berean Study Bible |
| 1[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 1Rid yourselves, therefore, of all malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander. |
| 2[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 2Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, |
| 3[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 3now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. |
| 4[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 4As you come to Him, the living stone, rejected by men but chosen and precious in God’s sight, |
| 5[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 5you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. |
| 6[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 6For it stands in Scripture: “See, I lay in Zion a stone, a chosen and precious cornerstone; and the one who believes in Him will never be put to shame.” |
| 7[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 7To you who believe, then, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” |
| 8[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 8and, “A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.” They stumble because they disobey the word—and to this they were appointed. |
| 9[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 9But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, to proclaim the virtues of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. |
| 10[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 10Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. |
| 11[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 11Beloved, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from the desires of the flesh, which war against your soul. |
| 12[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 12Conduct yourselves with such honor among the Gentiles that, though they slander you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day He visits us. |
| 13[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 13Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to the king as the supreme authority, |
| 14[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 14or to governors as those sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to praise those who do right. |
| 15[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 15For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorance of foolish men. |
| 16[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 16Live in freedom, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God. |
| 17[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 17Treat everyone with high regard: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king. |
| 18[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 18Servants, submit yourselves to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and gentle, but even to those who are unreasonable. |
| 19[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 19For if anyone endures the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God, this is to be commended. |
| 20[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 20How is it to your credit if you are beaten for doing wrong and you endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. |
| 21[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 21For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in His footsteps: |
| 22[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 22“He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in His mouth.” |
| 23[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 23When they heaped abuse on Him, He did not retaliate; when He suffered, He made no threats, but entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly. |
| 24[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 24He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. “By His stripes you are healed.” |
| 25[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 25For “you were like sheep going astray,” but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. |
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