according to the foreknowledge of God the Father and set apart by the Spirit for obedience and for sprinkling with the blood of Jesus Christ.

May grace and peace be multiplied to you.

Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to His great mercy, He has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead

You are being protected by God’s power through faith for a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

Therefore, with your minds ready for action, be serious and set your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

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.

since you have been born again—not of perishable seed but of imperishable—through the living and enduring word of God.

since you have tasted that the Lord is good.

Coming to Him, a living stone—rejected by men but chosen and valuable to God—

you yourselves, as living stones, are being built into a spiritual house for a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

Once you were not a people,
but now you are God’s people;
you had not received mercy,
but now you have received mercy.

Conduct yourselves honorably among the Gentiles, so that in a case where they speak against you as those who do what is evil, they will, by observing your good works, glorify God on the day of visitation.

or to governors as those sent out by him to punish those who do what is evil and to praise those who do what is good.

For it is God’s will that you silence the ignorance of foolish people by doing good.

As God’s slaves, live as free people, but don’t use your freedom as a way to conceal evil.

Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the Emperor.

Household slaves, submit with all fear to your masters, not only to the good and gentle but also to the cruel.

For it brings favor if, mindful of God’s will, someone endures grief from suffering unjustly.

For what credit is there if you sin and are punished, and you endure it? But when you do what is good and suffer, if you endure it, this brings favor with God.

Instead, it should consist of what is inside the heart with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very valuable in God’s eyes.

For in the past, the holy women who put their hope in God also beautified themselves in this way, submitting to their own husbands,

just as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. You have become her children when you do what is good and are not frightened by anything alarming.

For the one who wants to love life
and to see good days
must keep his tongue from evil
and his lips from speaking deceit,

and he must turn away from evil
and do what is good.
He must seek peace and pursue it,

And who will harm you if you are deeply committed to what is good?

For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.

For Christ also suffered for sins once for all,
the righteous for the unrighteous,
that He might bring you to God,
after being put to death in the fleshly realm
but made alive in the spiritual realm.

who in the past were disobedient, when God patiently waited in the days of Noah while an ark was being prepared. In it a few—that is, eight people—were saved through water.

Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the pledge of a good conscience toward God) through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Now that He has gone into heaven, He is at God’s right hand with angels, authorities, and powers subject to Him.

in order to live the remaining time in the flesh, no longer for human desires, but for God’s will.

For this reason the gospel was also preached to those who are now dead, so that, although they might be judged by men in the fleshly realm, they might live by God in the spiritual realm.

Based on the gift each one has received, use it to serve others, as good managers of the varied grace of God.

If anyone speaks, it should be as one who speaks God’s words; if anyone serves, it should be from the strength God provides, so that God may be glorified through Jesus Christ in everything. To Him belong the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.

If you are ridiculed for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.

But if anyone suffers as a “Christian,” he should not be ashamed but should glorify God in having that name.

For the time has come for judgment to begin with God’s household, and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who disobey the gospel of God?

So those who suffer according to God’s will should, while doing what is good, entrust themselves to a faithful Creator.

Shepherd God’s flock among you, not overseeing out of compulsion but freely, according to God’s will; not for the money but eagerly;

In the same way, you younger men, be subject to the elders. And all of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because

God resists the proud
but gives grace to the humble.

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that He may exalt you at the proper time,

Now the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ Jesus, will personally restore, establish, strengthen, and support you after you have suffered a little.

I have written you this brief letter through Silvanus (I know him to be a faithful brother) to encourage you and to testify that this is the true grace of God. Take your stand in it!