1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that dwell here and there as strangers throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia;
2 Elect by the foreknowledge of God the father, through the sanctifying of the spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. Grace be with you, and peace be multiplied.
3 Blessed be God, the father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which through his abundant mercy begat us again unto a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from death,
4 to enjoy an inheritance immortal, and undefiled, and that perisheth not; reserved in heaven for you
5 which are kept by the power of God through salvation, which salvation is prepared already to be showed in the last time,
6 in the which time ye shall rejoice, though now for a season - if need require - ye are in heaviness, through manifold temptations,
7 that your faith, once tried, being much more precious than gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto laud, glory, and honour, at the appearing of Jesus Christ:
8 whom ye have not seen and yet love him, in whom even now, though ye see him not, yet ye believe, and rejoice with joy unspeakable and glorious:
9 receiving the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
10 Of which salvation have the prophets enquired, and searched, which prophesied of the grace that should come unto you;
11 searching when, or at what time, the spirit of Christ which was in them should signify - which spirit testified before - the passions that should come unto Christ, and the glory that should follow after.
12 Unto which prophets it was declared, that not unto themselves, but unto us, they should minister the things which are now showed unto you, of them which, by the holy ghost sent down from heaven, have preached unto you the things which the angels desire to behold.
13 Wherefore, gird up the loins of your minds, be sober, and trust perfectly on the grace that is brought unto you by the declaring of Jesus Christ;
14 as obedient children, not fashioning yourselves unto your old lusts of ignorance:
15 But as he which called you is holy, even so be ye holy in all manner of conversation,
16 because it is written, "Be ye holy, for I am holy."
17 And if so be that ye call on the father, which without respect of person judgeth according to every man's works, see that ye pass the time of your pilgrimage in fear:
18 Forasmuch as ye know how that ye were not redeemed with corruptible gold and silver from your vain conversation, which ye received by the traditions of the fathers,
19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb undefiled, and without spot,
20 which was ordained before the world was made: but was declared in the last times for your sakes.
21 Which, by his means, have believed on God that raised him from death, and glorified him, that your faith and hope might be in God.
22 And forasmuch as ye have purified your souls through the spirit, in obeying the truth for to love brotherly without feigning, see that ye love one another with a pure heart, fervently:
23 for ye are born anew, not of mortal seed, but of immortal seed, by the word of God which liveth, and lasteth forever.
24 For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man is as the flower of grass; the grass is withered, and the flower falleth away,
25 but the word of the Lord endureth ever. And this is the word which by the gospel was preached among you.