and who were chosen in accordance with the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the consecration of the Spirit, to learn obedience, and to be purified by the sprinkling of the Blood of Jesus Christ, from Peter, an Apostle of Jesus Christ. May blessing and peace be yours in ever-increasing measure.

Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has, in his great mercy, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

for you who, through faith, are being guarded by the power of God, awaiting a Salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last days.

who, through him, are faithful to God who raised him from the dead and gave him honour, so that your faith and hope are now in God.

since your new Life has come, not from perishable, but imperishable, seed, through the Message of the Everliving God.

and, as living stones, form yourselves into a spiritual House, to be a consecrated Priesthood, for the offering of spiritual sacrifices that will be acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

And baptism, which this foreshadowed, now saves you--not the mere cleansing of the body, but the search of a clear conscience after God--through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

When any one speaks, let him speak as one who is delivering the oracles of God. When any one is endeavoring to serve others, let him do so in reliance on the strength which God supplies; so that in everything God may be honour ed through Jesus Christ--to whom be ascribed all honour and might for ever and ever. Amen.

Dear friends, do not be astonished at the fiery trials that you are passing through, to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.