1 Peter

The First Letter From Peter

1 Peter, apostle of Jesus Christ, to the chosen who are living abroad among the Jewish colonies of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, 2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, to obedience and sprinkling of Jesus Christ’s blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance.

3 Blessed be our Lord Jesus Christ’s God and Father, he who in accordance with his great mercy has given us rebirth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 into an imperishable, undefiled, unfading inheritance that has been kept in heaven for you 5 who by the power of God are guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be disclosed at the last— 6 wherein you exult, though for a little while now, if need be, you have been saddened in various trials, 7* that the quality of your faith may be found more valuable than gold (which is a perishable thing, but is tested by fire) for praise and glory and honor at the manifestation of Jesus Christ, 8 whom you love without having seen him; believing in whom, without now seeing him, you exult in ineffable and glorified gladness, 9* obtaining the end of faith, soul-salvation. 10 Concerning which salvation prophets sought and searched, who prophesied of the grace that has reached you, 11 searching to find out what time or what sort of time Christ’s spirit in them was pointing to in testifying beforehand the sufferings to which Christ was destined and the glory after these; 12 to whom it was disclosed that they were dispensing them not to themselves but to you,—the things that have now been announced to you through those who brought the gospel to you in the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things that angels desire to look into.

13 Wherefore, girding up the loins of your mind, keep absolutely sober and hope in the grace that is being brought you in the manifestation of Jesus Christ. 14 Like children of obedience, not conforming to your old-time desires that you had during your ignorance, 15 but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves in all your life, 16 since it is written “You shall be holy, because I am holy.” 17 And if you invoke a Father who judges impartially according to each one’s doing, live a life of fear for the time of your stay, 18 knowing that it was not with perishable things, silver or gold, that you were redeemed from the futile life your fathers handed down to you, 19 but with precious blood as if of a lamb without defect or spot, Christ’s blood, 20 who had been foreknown before the foundation of the world but had made his appearance at the latter end of time for the sake of you 21 who through him are believers in God who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. 22 Having purified your spirits by obedience to the truth for unfeigned brotherliness, love each other ardently from your hearts, 23 reborn not from perishable seed but from imperishable, through the living word of God—living and abiding, 24 because “all flesh is like the herbage of the field, and all its glory like field flowers: the herbage withers and the flowers fall off; 25 but the word of the Lord abides forever,” and this is the word that has been brought to you as gospel.