2:1  Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander,

2:2   like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation,

2:3   if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord.

2:4  And coming to Him as to a living stone which men rejected, but whom God regarded as choice and precious ,

2:5   you also, as living stones, have become constructed as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

2:6   For this appears in Scripture: " BEHOLD, I LAY IN ZION A CHOICE STONE, A PRECIOUS CORNER stone, AND HE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT HAVE DISAPPOINTMENT."

2:7   This precious value, then, accrues to you who believe; but for those who disbelieve," THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE VERY CORNER stone,"

2:8  and, " A STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE"; for they stumble because they disobey the word, and to this doom they appointed themselves.

2:9  But GOD has made you A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR HIS OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;

2:10   for you once could not claim kinship as A PEOPLE, but now you have become THE PEOPLE OF GOD; you had NOT RECEIVED MERCY, but now you have RECEIVED MERCY.

2:11   Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul.

2:12   Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of [a]visitation.

2:13   Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority,

2:14  or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right.

2:15  For God wills that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men.

2:16  Act as free men, and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bondslaves of God.

2:17  Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king.

2:18   Servants, submit to your masters with all respect, not only to those who do good and exercise gentleness, but also to those who behave unreasonably.

2:19  For this finds favor, if for the sake of conscience toward God a person bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly.

2:20  For what credit do you have if, when you sin and receive harsh treatment, you endure it with patience? But if when you do right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God.

2:21  For God has called you for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps,

2:22  WHO COMMITTED NO SIN, NOR DECEIVED ANY WITH HIS MOUTH;

2:23  and while people reviled Him, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously;

2:24  and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you received healing.

2:25  For you continually strayed like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.