1 Pt 2:1-10

God’s House and People. 1* Rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, insincerity, envy, and all slander;a 2like newborn infants, long for pure spiritual milk so that through it you may grow into salvation, 3b for you have tasted that the Lord is good.* 4Come to him, a living stone,* rejected by human beings but chosen and precious in the sight of God,c 5and, like living stones, let yourselves be built* into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.d 6For it says in scripture:

“Behold, I am laying a stone in Zion,

a cornerstone, chosen and precious,

and whoever believes in it shall not be put to shame.”e

7Therefore, its value is for you who have faith, but for those without faith:

“The stone which the builders rejected

has become the cornerstone,”f

8and

“A stone that will make people stumble,

and a rock that will make them fall.”

They stumble by disobeying the word, as is their destiny.g

9* But you are “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own, so that you may announce the praises” of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.h

10Once you were “no people”

but now you are God’s people;

you “had not received mercy”

but now you have received mercy.i