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  First Peter

1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the elect who are sojourners of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, ²according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace be multiplied.

³Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy has begotten us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴unto an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fades not away, reserved in heaven for you, ⁵who by the power of God are guarded through faith unto a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

⁶Wherein you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been put to grief in manifold trials, ⁷that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold that perish though it is proved by fire, may be found unto praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ: ⁸whom not having seen you love; on whom, though now you see him not, yet believing, you rejoice greatly with joy unspeakable and full of glory: ⁹receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.

¹⁰Concerning which salvation the prophets sought and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: ¹¹searching what time or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did point unto, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glories that should follow them. ¹²To whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto you, did they minister these things, which now have been announced unto you through them that preached the gospel unto you by the Holy Spirit sent forth from heaven; which things angel desire to look into.

¹³Wherefore girding up the loins of your mind, be sober and set your hope perfectly on the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; ¹⁴as children of obedience, not fashioning yourselves according to your former lusts as in the time of your ignorance: ¹⁵but like as he who called you is holy, be you yourselves also holy in all manner of living; ¹⁶because it is written, You shall be holy; for I am holy. ¹⁷And if you call on him as Father, who without respect of persons judges according to each man’s work, pass the time of your sojourning in fear: ¹⁸knowing that you were redeemed, not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, from your vain manner of life handed down from your fathers; ¹⁹but with precious blood, as of a lamb without spot, even the blood of Christ: ²⁰who was foreknown indeed before the foundation of the world, but was manifested at the end of times for your sake, ²¹who through him are believers in God, that raised him from the dead, and gave him glory; so that your faith and hope might be in God. ²²Seeing you have purified your souls in your obedience to the truth unto unfeigned love of the brethren, love one another from the heart fervently: ²³having been begotten again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word of God, which lives and abides.

²⁴For, All flesh is as grass, And all the glory thereof as the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls: ²⁵But the word of the Lord abides for ever. And this is the word of good tidings which was preached unto you.

2 Putting away therefore all wickedness, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, ²as newborn babes, long for the spiritual milk which is without guile, that you may grow thereby unto salvation; ³if you have tasted that the Lord is gracious:

⁴unto whom coming, a living stone, rejected indeed of men, but with God elect, precious, ⁵you also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. ⁶Because it is contained in scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: And he that believes on him shall not be put to shame. ⁷For you therefore that believe is the preciousness: but for such as disbelieve, The stone which the builders rejected, The same was made the head of the corner; ⁸and, A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence; for they stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed. ⁹But you are an elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that you may show forth the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light: ¹⁰who in time past were no people, but now are the people of God: who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. ¹¹Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, to abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; ¹²having your behavior honest among the Gentiles; that, wherein they speak against you as evil-doers, they may by your good works, which they behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.

¹³Be subject to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake: whether to the king, as supreme; ¹⁴or unto governors, as sent by him for vengeance on evil-doers and for praise to them that do well. ¹⁵For so is the will of God, that by well-doing you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish men: ¹⁶as free, and not using your freedom for a cloak of wickedness, but as bondservants of God. ¹⁷Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king. ¹⁸Servants, be in subjection to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward. ¹⁹For this is acceptable, if for conscience toward God a man endures griefs, suffering wrongfully. ²⁰For what glory is it, if, when you sin, and are buffeted for it, you shall take it patiently? But if, when you do well, and suffer for it, you shall take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. ²¹For hereunto were you called: because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow his steps: ²²who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: ²³who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered threatened not; but committed himself to him that judges righteously: ²⁴who his own self bare our sins in his body upon the tree, that we, having died unto sins, might live unto righteousness; by whose stripes you were healed. ²⁵For you were going astray like sheep; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.

3 In like manner, you wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, even if any obey not the word, they may without the word be gained by the behavior of their wives; ²beholding your chaste behavior coupled with fear. ³Whose adorning let it not be the outward adorning of braiding the hair, and of wearing jewels of gold, or of putting on apparel; ⁴but let it be the hidden man of the heart, in the incorruptible apparel of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. ⁵For after this manner before the holy women also, who hoped in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection to their own husbands: ⁶as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord: whose children you now are, if you do well, and are not put in fear by any terror. ⁷You husbands, in like manner, dwell with your wives according to knowledge, giving honor unto the woman, as unto the weaker vessel, as being also joint-heirs of the grace of life; to the end that your prayers be not hindered.

⁸Finally, be you all likeminded, compassionate, loving as brethren, tenderhearted, humbleminded: ⁹not rendering evil for evil, or reviling for reviling; but contrariwise blessing; for hereunto were you called, that you should inherit a blessing. ¹⁰For, He that would love life, And see good days, Let him refrain his tongue from evil, And his lips that they speak no guile: ¹¹And let him turn away from evil, and do good; Let him seek peace, and pursue it. ¹²For the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, And his ears unto their supplication: But the face of the Lord is upon them that do evil. ¹³And who is he that will harm you, if you be zealous of that which is good? ¹⁴But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, blessed are you: and fear not their fear, neither be troubled; ¹⁵but sanctify in your hearts Christ as Lord: being ready always to give answer to every man that asks you a reason concerning the hope that is in you, yet with meekness and fear:

¹⁶having a good conscience; that, wherein you are spoken against, they may be put to shame who revile your good manner of life in Christ. ¹⁷For it is better, if the will of God should so will, that you suffer for well-doing than for evil-doing.

¹⁸Because Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God; being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; ¹⁹in which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison, ²⁰that before were disobedient, when the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water:

²¹which also after a true likeness does now save you, even baptism, not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the interrogation of a good conscience toward God, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ; ²²who is on the right hand of God, having gone into heaven; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.

4 Forasmuch then as Christ suffered in the flesh, arm you yourselves also with the same mind; for he that has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin; ²that you no longer should live the rest of your time in flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God. ³For the time past may suffice to have worked the desire of the Gentiles, and to have walked in lasciviousness, lusts, winebibbings, revellings, carousings, and abominable idolatries:

⁴wherein they think strange that you run not with them into the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you: ⁵who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the living and the dead. ⁶For unto this end was the gospel preached even to the dead, that they might be judged indeed according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.

⁷But the end of all things is at hand: be you therefore of sound mind, and be sober unto prayer: ⁸above all things being fervent in your love among yourselves; for love covers a multitude of sins: ⁹using hospitality one to another without murmuring: ¹⁰according as each has received a gift, ministering it among yourselves, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God; ¹¹if any man speaks, speaking as it were the oracles of God; if any man ministers, ministering as of the strength which God supplies: that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, whose is the glory and the dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

¹²Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial among you, which comes upon you to prove you, as though a strange thing happened unto you: ¹³but insomuch as you are partakers of Christ’s sufferings, rejoice; that at the revelation of his glory also you may rejoice with exceeding joy. ¹⁴If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you; because the Spirit of glory and the Spirit of God rests upon you. ¹⁵For let none of you suffer as a murderer, or a thief, or an evil-doer, or as a meddler in other men’s matters: ¹⁶but if a man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God in this name. ¹⁷For the time is come for judgment to begin at the house of God: and if it begin first at us, what shall be the end of them that obey not the gospel of God? ¹⁸And if the righteous is scarcely saved, where shall the ungodly and sinner appear? ¹⁹Wherefore let them also that suffer according to the will of God commit their souls in well-doing unto a faithful Creator.

5 The elders among you I exhort, who am a fellow-elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, who am also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: ²Tend the flock of God which is among you, exercising the oversight, not of constraint, but willingly, according to the will of God; nor yet for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; ³neither as lording it over the charge allotted to you, but making yourselves examples to the flock. ⁴And when the chief Shepherd shall be manifested, you shall receive the crown of glory that fades not away.

⁵Likewise, you younger, be subject unto the elder. Yes, all of you gird yourselves with humility, to serve one another: for God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. ⁶Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time; ⁷casting all of your cares upon him, because he cares for you.

⁸Be sober, be watchful: your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour, ⁹whom withstand steadfast in your faith, knowing that the same sufferings are accomplished in your brethren who are in the world.