To them it was revealed that they were serving not themselves but you, when they foretold the very things which have now been openly declared to you by those who, having been taught by the Holy Spirit which had been sent from Heaven, brought you the Good News. Angels long to stoop and look into these things.

but--in imitation of the holy One who has called you--you also must be holy in all your habits of life.

but with the precious blood of Christ--as of an unblemished and spotless lamb.

He was pre-destined indeed to this work, even before the creation of the world, but has been plainly manifested in these last days for the sake of you who, through Him,

For you have been begotten again by God's ever-living and enduring word from a germ not of perishable, but of imperishable life.

But the word of the Lord remains for ever." And that means the Message which has been proclaimed among you in the Good News.

Come to Him, the ever-living Stone, rejected indeed by men as worthless, but in God's esteem chosen and held in honour.

To you believers, therefore, that honour belongs; but for unbelievers-- "A Stone which the builders rejected has been made the Cornerstone,"

But you are a chosen race, a priesthood of kingly lineage, a holy nation, a people belonging specially to God, that you may make known the perfections of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvellous light.

Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God. Once you had not found mercy, but now you have.

Be free men, and yet do not make your freedom an excuse for base conduct, but be God's bondservants.

Household servants, be submissive to your masters, and show them the utmost respect--not only if they are kind and thoughtful, but also if they are unreasonable.

If you do wrong and receive a blow for it, what credit is there in your bearing it patiently? But if when you do right and suffer for it you bear it patiently, this is an acceptable thing with God.

When He was reviled, He did not answer with reviling; when He suffered He uttered no threats, but left His wrongs in the hands of the righteous Judge.

For you were straying like lost sheep, but now you have come back to the Shepherd and Protector of your souls.

not requiting evil with evil nor abuse with abuse, but, on the contrary, giving a blessing in return, because a blessing is what you have been called by God to inherit.

For the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and His ears are open to their supplication; but the face of the Lord is set against evil-doers."

But even if you suffer for righteousness' sake, you are to be envied. So do not be alarmed by their threats, nor troubled;

but in your hearts consecrate Christ as Lord, being always ready to make your defence to any one who asks from you a reason for the hope which you cherish.

Yet argue modestly and cautiously, keeping your consciences free from guilt, so that, when you are spoken against, those who slander your good Christian lives may be put to shame.

because Christ also once for all died for sins, the innocent One for the guilty many, in order to bring us to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit,

And, corresponding to that figure, the water of baptism now saves you--not the washing off of material defilement, but the craving of a good conscience after God--through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

that in future you may spend the rest of your earthly lives, governed not by human passions, but by the will of God.

But they will have to give account to Him who stands ready to pronounce judgement on the living and the dead.

For it is with this end in view that the Good News was proclaimed even to some who were dead, that they may be judged, as all mankind will be judged, in the body, but may be living a godly life in the spirit.

But the end of all things is now close at hand: therefore be sober-minded and temperate, so that you may give yourselves to prayer.

Dear friends, do not be surprised at finding that that scorching flame of persecution is raging among you to put you to the test--as though some surprising thing were accidentally happening to you.

But let not one of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evil-doer, or as a spy upon other people's business.

If, however, any one suffers because he is a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God for being permitted to bear that name.

Be shepherds of God's flock which is among you. Exercise the oversight not reluctantly but eagerly, in accordance with the will of God; not for base gain but with cheerful minds;

not lording it over your Churches but proving yourselves patterns for the flock to imitate.

In the same way you younger men must submit to your elders; and all of you must gird yourselves with humility towards one another, for God sets Himself against the proud, but gives grace to the humble.