22 Now that you have purified(A) yourselves by obeying(B) the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply,(C) from the heart.[a] 23 For you have been born again,(D) not of perishable seed, but of imperishable,(E) through the living and enduring word of God.(F) 24 For,

“All people are like grass,
    and all their glory is like the flowers of the field;
the grass withers and the flowers fall,
25     but the word of the Lord endures forever.”[b](G)

And this is the word that was preached to you.

Therefore, rid yourselves(H) of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander(I) of every kind. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk,(J) so that by it you may grow up(K) in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.(L)

The Living Stone and a Chosen People

As you come to him, the living Stone(M)—rejected by humans but chosen by God(N) and precious to him— you also, like living stones, are being built(O) into a spiritual house[c](P) to be a holy priesthood,(Q) offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.(R)

Footnotes

  1. 1 Peter 1:22 Some early manuscripts from a pure heart
  2. 1 Peter 1:25 Isaiah 40:6-8 (see Septuagint)
  3. 1 Peter 2:5 Or into a temple of the Spirit

22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:

23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.

24 For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:

25 But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.

Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings,

As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:

If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.

To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious,

Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.