Add parallel Print Page Options

You, too, are like living stones, being built up into a spiritual temple and a holy priesthood[a] to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it states in Scripture,

“See, I am laying a stone in Zion,
    a cornerstone chosen and precious.
Whoever believes in it
    will not be put to shame.”

Therefore, it is precious to you who believe. However, for those who do not believe,

“The stone that the builders rejected
    has become the cornerstone,”

and

“A stone that makes them stumble,
    and a rock that makes them fall.”

They stumble because they disobey the word—for this they were born.[b]

But you are “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people claimed by God as his own possession,” so that you may proclaim the praise of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 1 Peter 2:5 Holy priesthood: all who are united with Christ by faith share in the priesthood of Christ (see note on Heb 8:6-13).
  2. 1 Peter 2:8 For this they were born: the author states that by rejecting the Gospel, the people of the former Covenant have lost their prerogatives, which have now been given to the people of the New Covenant, i.e., Christians. The Scripture references in vv. 6-10 reflect the concern of early Christianity to explain Israel’s unbelief in light of the Old Testament itself.