1:13 Therefore, get your minds ready for action ¹  by being fully sober, and set your hope ²  completely on the grace that will be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed. ³  1:14 Like obedient children, do not comply with ⁴  the evil urges you used to follow in your ignorance, ⁵  1:15 but, like the Holy One who called you, become holy yourselves in all of your conduct, 1:16 for it is written, “You shall be holy, because I am holy.” ⁶  1:17 And if you address as Father the one who impartially judges according to each one’s work, live out the time of your temporary residence here ⁷  in reverence. 1:18 You know that from your empty way of life inherited from your ancestors you were ransomed – not by perishable things like silver or gold, 1:19 but by precious blood like that of an unblemished and spotless lamb, namely Christ. 1:20 He was foreknown ⁸  before the foundation of the world but ⁹  was manifested in these last times ¹⁰  for your sake. 1:21 Through him you now trust ¹¹  in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

1:22 You have purified ¹²  your souls by obeying the truth ¹³  in order to show sincere mutual love. ¹⁴  So ¹⁵  love one another earnestly from a pure heart. ¹⁶  1:23 You have been born anew, not from perishable but from imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God. 1:24 For

all flesh ¹⁷  is like grass

and all its glory like the flower of the grass; ¹⁸ 

the grass withers and the flower falls off,

1:25 but the word of the Lord ¹⁹  endures forever. ²⁰ 

And this is the word that was proclaimed to you.

2:1 So get rid of ²¹  all evil and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. 2:2 And ²²  yearn ²³  like newborn infants for pure, spiritual milk, ²⁴  so that by it you may grow up to ²⁵  salvation, ²⁶  2:3 if you have experienced ²⁷  the Lord’s kindness. ²⁸ 

2:4 So as you come to him, ²⁹  a living stone rejected by men but ³⁰  chosen and priceless ³¹  in God’s sight, 2:5 you yourselves, as living stones, are built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood and to offer ³²  spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 2:6 For it says ³³  in scripture, “Look,I lay in Zion a stone, a chosen and priceless cornerstone, ³⁴  and whoever believes ³⁵  in him ³⁶  will never ³⁷  be put to shame.” ³⁸  2:7 So you who believe see ³⁹  his value, ⁴⁰  but for those who do not believe, the stone that the builders rejected has become the ⁴¹  cornerstone, ⁴²  2:8 and a stumbling-stone ⁴³  and a rock to trip over. ⁴⁴  They stumble ⁴⁵  because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do. ⁴⁶  2:9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own, so that you may proclaim the virtues ⁴⁷  of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 2:10 You ⁴⁸  once were not a people, but now you are God’s people. You were shown no mercy, ⁴⁹  but now you have received mercy.

2:11 Dear friends, I urge you as foreigners and exiles to keep away from fleshly desires that do battle against the soul, 2:12 and maintain good conduct ⁵⁰  among the non-Christians, ⁵¹  so that though ⁵²  they now malign you as wrongdoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God when he appears. ⁵³