[2:1] So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.
[2:2] Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation—
[2:3] if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.
[2:4] As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious,
[2:5] you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
[2:6] For it stands in Scripture: “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
[2:7] So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,”
[2:8] and “A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense.” They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.
[2:9] But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
[2:10] Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
[2:11] Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.
[2:12] Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.