As obedient children, do not be shaped by the desires that used to influence you when you were ignorant.

Instead, be holy in every aspect of your life, just as the one who called you is holy.

If you call "Father" the one who judges everyone impartially according to what they have done, you must live in reverent fear as long as you are strangers in a strange land.

As you come to him, the living stone who was rejected by people but was chosen and precious in God's sight,

you, too, as living stones, are building yourselves up into a spiritual house and a holy priesthood, so that you may offer spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God through Jesus, the Messiah.

a stone they stumble over and a rock they trip on." They keep on stumbling because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.

Dear friends, I urge you as aliens and exiles to keep on abstaining from the desires of the flesh that wage war against the soul.

Continue to live such upright lives among the gentiles that, when they slander you as practicers of evil, they may see your good actions and glorify God when he visits them.

For the Lord's sake submit yourselves to every human authority: whether to the king as supreme,

Live like free people, and do not use your freedom as an excuse for doing evil. Instead, be God's servants.

In a similar way, you wives must submit yourselves to your husbands so that, even if some of them refuse to obey the word, they may be won over without a word through your conduct as wives

just as Sarah obeyed Abraham and called him lord. You have become her daughters by doing good and by not letting anything terrify you.

In a similar way, you husbands must live with your wives in an understanding manner, as with a most delicate partner. Honor them as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing may interfere with your prayers.

Finally, all of you must live in harmony, be sympathetic, love as brothers, and be compassionate and humble.

Instead, exalt the Messiah" as Lord in your lives. Always be prepared to give a defense to everyone who asks you to explain the hope you have.

As good servant managers of God's grace in its various forms, serve one another with the gift each of you has received.

Dear friends, do not be surprised by the fiery ordeal that is taking place among you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.

Therefore, as a fellow elder, a witness of the Messiah's sufferings, and one who shares in the glory to be revealed, I appeal to the elders among you:

Be shepherds of God's flock that is among you, watching over it, not because you must but because you want to, and not greedily but eagerly, as God desires.

Through Silvanus, whom I regard as a faithful brother, I have written this short letter to encourage you and to testify that this is to be the true grace of God in which you are to stand firm!

Your sister church in Babylon, chosen along with you, sends you greetings, as does Mark, whom I regard as a son.