1 Peter

1

¹ Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the sojourners of the dispersion of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,
² Chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father in the sanctification of the Spirit unto the obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace be multiplied.
³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has regenerated us unto a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
⁴ Unto an inheritance, incorruptible and undefiled and unfading, kept in the heavens for you,
⁵ Who are being guarded by the power of God through faith unto a salvation ready to be revealed at the last time;
⁶ In which time you exult, though for a little while at present, if it must be, you have been made sorrowful by various trials,
⁷ So that the proving of your faith, much more precious than of gold which perishes though it is proved by fire, may be found unto praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
⁸ Whom having not seen, you love; into whom though not seeing Him at present, yet believing, you exult with joy that is unspeakable and full of glory,
⁹ Receiving the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
¹⁰ Concerning this salvation the prophets, who prophesied concerning the grace that was to come unto you, sought and searched diligently,
¹¹ Searching into what time or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ in them was making clear, testifying beforehand of the sufferings of Christ and the glories after these.
¹² To them it was revealed that not to themselves but to you they ministered these things, which have now been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, which things angels long to look into.
¹³ Therefore girding up the loins of your mind and being sober, set your hope perfectly on the grace being brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
¹⁴ As children of obedience, do not be fashioned according to the former lusts in your ignorance;
¹⁵ But according to the Holy One who called you, you yourselves also be holy in all your manner of life;
¹⁶ Because it is written, “You shall be holy because I am holy.”
¹⁷ And if you call as Father the One who without respect of persons judges according to each one’s work, pass the time of your sojourning in fear,
¹⁸ Knowing that it was not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, that you were redeemed from your vain manner of life handed down from your fathers,
¹⁹ But with precious blood, as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot, the blood of Christ;
²⁰ Who was foreknown before the foundation of the world but has been manifested in the last of times for your sake,
²¹ Who through Him believe into God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.
²² Since you have purified your souls by your obedience to the truth unto unfeigned brotherly love, love one another from a pure heart fervently,
²³ Having been regenerated not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible, through the living and abiding word of God.
²⁴ For “all flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass has withered, and the flower has fallen off,
²⁵ But the word of the Lord abides forever.” And this is the word which has been announced to you as the gospel.

2

¹ Therefore putting away all malice and all guile and hypocrisies and envyings and all evil speakings,
² As newborn babes, long for the guileless milk of the word in order that by it you may grow unto salvation,
³ If you have tasted that the Lord is good.
⁴ Coming to Him, a living stone, rejected by men but with God chosen and precious,
⁵ You yourselves also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house into a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
⁶ For it is contained in Scripture: “Behold, I lay in Zion a cornerstone, chosen and precious; and he who believes on Him shall by no means be put to shame.”
⁷ To you therefore who believe is the preciousness; but to the unbelieving, “The stone which the builders rejected, this has become the head of the corner,”
⁸ And, “A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense”; who stumble at the word, being disobedient, to which also they were appointed.
⁹ But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people acquired for a possession, so that you may tell out the virtues of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;
¹⁰ Who once were not a people but now are the people of God; who had not previously been shown mercy but have now been shown mercy.
¹¹ Beloved, I entreat you as strangers and sojourners to abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul,
¹² Having your manner of life excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the matter concerning which they speak against you as evildoers they may, by your good works, as they see them with their own eyes, glorify God in the day of His visitation.
¹³ Be subject to every human institution for the Lord’s sake, whether to a king as being supreme,
¹⁴ Or to governors as being sent by him for vengeance on evildoers and praise of those who do good.
¹⁵ For so is the will of God, that by doing good you would muzzle the ignorance of foolish men;
¹⁶ As free, and yet not having freedom as a covering for evil, but as slaves of God.
¹⁷ Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.
¹⁸ Household servants, be subject in all fear to your masters, not only to the good and forbearing but also to the crooked.
¹⁹ For this is grace, if anyone, because of a consciousness of God, bears sorrows by suffering unjustly.
²⁰ For what glory is it if, while sinning and being buffeted, you endure? But if, while doing good and suffering, you endure, this is grace with God.
²¹ For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered on your behalf, leaving you a model so that you may follow in His steps;
²² Who committed no sin, nor was guile found in His mouth;
²³ Who being reviled did not revile in return; suffering, He did not threaten but kept committing all to Him who judges righteously;
²⁴ Who Himself bore up our sins in His body on the tree, in order that we, having died to sins, might live to righteousness; by whose bruise you were healed.
²⁵ For you were like sheep being led astray, but you have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

3

¹ In like manner, wives, be subject to your own husbands, that even if any disobey the word, they will be gained without the word through the manner of life of their wives,
² Seeing with their own eyes your pure manner of life in fear.
³ Let your adorning not be the outward plaiting of hair and putting on of gold or clothing with garments,
⁴ But the hidden man of the heart in the incorruptible adornment of a meek and quiet spirit, which is very costly in the sight of God.
⁵ For in this manner formerly the holy women also, who hoped in God, adorned themselves, being subject to their own husbands,
⁶ As Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord; whose children you have become, if you do good and do not fear any terror.
⁷ Husbands, in like manner dwell together with them according to knowledge, as with the weaker, female vessel, assigning honor to them as also to fellow heirs of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered.
⁸ And finally be all of the same mind, sympathetic, loving the brothers, tenderhearted, humble-minded;
⁹ Not rendering evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing one another, because you were called to this, that you might inherit blessing.
¹⁰ For “he who desires to love life and see good days, let him cause his tongue to cease from evil and his lips to speak no guile.
¹¹ And let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it;
¹² For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears incline to their petition; but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”
¹³ And who will harm you if you become zealous for what is good?
¹⁴ But even if you suffer because of righteousness, you are blessed. And do not be afraid with fear from them, nor be troubled,
¹⁵ But sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, being always ready for a defense to everyone who asks of you an account concerning the hope which is in you,
¹⁶ Yet with meekness and fear, having a good conscience, so that in the matter in which you are spoken against, those who revile your good manner of life in Christ may be put to shame.
¹⁷ For it is better, if the will of God should will it, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.
¹⁸ For Christ also has suffered once for sins, the Righteous on behalf of the unrighteous, that He might bring you to God, on the one hand being put to death in the flesh, but on the other, made alive in the Spirit;
¹⁹ In which also He went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison,
²⁰ Who had formerly disobeyed when the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared; entering into which, a few, that is, eight souls, were brought safely through by water.
²¹ Which water, as the antitype, also now saves you, that is, baptism, not a putting away of the filth of the flesh but the appeal of a good conscience unto God, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
²² Who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, angels and authorities and powers being subjected to Him.

4

¹ Since Christ therefore has suffered in the flesh, you also arm yourselves with the same mind (because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin),
² No longer to live the rest of the time in the flesh in the lusts of men, but in the will of God.
³ For the time which has passed is sufficient for you to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles, having gone on in licentiousness, lusts, debaucheries, carousings, drinking bouts, and lawless idolatries.
⁴ In this they think it strange that you are not running together with them into the same flood of dissoluteness, slandering you;
⁵ Who will render an account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.
⁶ For unto this end the gospel was announced also to those who are now dead, that they might be judged in the flesh according to men but live in the spirit according to God.
⁷ But the end of all things has drawn near. Therefore be sober-minded and be sober unto prayers.
⁸ Above all, have fervent love among yourselves, because love covers a multitude of sins.
⁹ Be hospitable to one another without murmuring,
¹⁰ Each one, as he has received a gift, ministering it among yourselves as good stewards of the varied grace of God.
¹¹ If anyone speaks, as speaking oracles of God; if anyone ministers, as ministering out of the strength which God supplies; that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom is the glory and the might forever and ever. Amen.
¹² Beloved, do not think that the fiery ordeal among you, coming to you for a trial, is strange, as if it were a strange thing happening to you;
¹³ But inasmuch as you share in the sufferings of Christ, rejoice, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice exultingly.
¹⁴ If you are reproached in the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.
¹⁵ For let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler into others’ affairs;
¹⁶ But if as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this name.
¹⁷ For it is time for the judgment to begin from the house of God; and if first from us, what will be the end of those who disobey the gospel of God?
¹⁸ And if the righteous man is saved only with difficulty, where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?
¹⁹ So then let those also who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls in well-doing to a faithful Creator.

5

¹ Therefore the elders among you I exhort, who am a fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, who am also a partaker of the glory to be revealed:
² Shepherd the flock of God among you, overseeing not under compulsion but willingly, according to God; not by seeking gain through base means but eagerly;
³ Nor as lording it over your allotments but by becoming patterns of the flock.
⁴ And when the Chief Shepherd is manifested, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.
⁵ In like manner, younger men, be subject to elders; and all of you gird yourselves with humility toward one another, because God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.
⁶ Therefore be humbled under the mighty hand of God that He may exalt you in due time,
⁷ Casting all your anxiety on Him because it matters to Him concerning you.
⁸ Be sober; watch. Your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking someone to devour.
⁹ Him withstand, being firm in your faith, knowing that the same sufferings are being accomplished among your brotherhood in the world.
¹⁰ But the God of all grace, He who has called you into His eternal glory in Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a little while, will Himself perfect, establish, strengthen, and ground you.
¹¹ To Him be the glory and the might forever and ever. Amen.
¹² Through Silvanus, the faithful brother, as I account him, I have written to you briefly, exhorting and testifying fully that this is the true grace of God; enter into this grace and stand in it.
¹³ The co-chosen in Babylon and Mark my son greet you.
¹⁴ Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace to you all who are in Christ.