1 Peter 1

1 ¹Peter, apostle of Jesus Christ, to the chosen exiles scattered through Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. ²Chosen by our Father's foreknowledge, made holy by the Holy Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with his blood: grace and peace multiplied to you.

Born Into a Living Hope

³Blessed is our Father, and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ: by his great mercy he gave us new birth into a living hope through Jesus Christ's resurrection from the dead, ⁴into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade, kept in heaven for you, ⁵protected through faith by our Father's power for the salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. ⁶You rejoice greatly in this, though now, briefly, you may have had to be distressed by various trials. ⁷These have come so that your faith—tested and found genuine, worth more than fire-refined gold that still gets destroyed—may bring praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ appears. ⁸Though you've never seen him, you love him; though you don't see him now, you trust him, rejoicing with joy beyond words and full of glory, ⁹for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

¹⁰Prophets who spoke of the grace meant for you investigated and searched carefully into this salvation, ¹¹searching for the time and situation the Spirit of Christ in them pointed to, when he predicted Christ's sufferings and the glories after them. ¹²It was revealed to them: they served not themselves but you, when they spoke of these things now announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.

Called to Be Holy

¹³So, minds braced for action and fully sober, hope completely on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed. ¹⁴As obedient children, don't let yourselves be shaped by the desires you once followed in your ignorance. ¹⁵But just as the one who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do;

¹⁶for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy."

¹⁷Since you call on a Father who judges every deed without favoritism, spend your exile time here in reverent fear. ¹⁸You know silver and gold—things that decay—didn't rescue you from the empty life passed down from your ancestors, ¹⁹but with Christ's precious blood, a lamb without defect or stain. ²⁰Chosen before the world's foundation, revealed in these last times for your sake. ²¹Through him you believe in our Father, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, so your faith and hope are in our Father.

²²Having purified your souls by obeying the truth for sincere love of the brothers, love each other deeply from a pure heart. ²³For you have been born again — not of perishable seed but imperishable — through the living, enduring word of our Father. ²⁴For, "All people are like grass, and all their glory like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, ²⁵but the word of our Father endures forever." And this is the word that was preached to you.