Daily Bible CEV April 23 Verses

A Living Stone and a Holy Nation

1 Peter 2 Stop being hateful! Quit trying to fool people, and start being sincere. Don't be jealous or say cruel things about others. ²Be like newborn babies who are thirsty for the pure spiritual milk that will help you grow and be saved. ³You have already found out how good the Lord really is.

⁴Come to Jesus Christ. He is the living stone that people have rejected, but which God has chosen and highly honored. ⁵And now you are living stones that are being used to build a spiritual house. You are also a group of holy priests, and with the help of Jesus Christ you will offer sacrifices that please God. ⁶It is just as God says in the Scriptures,

"Look! I am placing in Zion

a choice and precious cornerstone.

No one who has faith in that one will be disappointed."

⁷You are followers of the Lord, and that stone is precious to you. But it isn't precious to those who refuse to follow him. They are the builders who tossed aside the stone that turned out to be the most important one of all. ⁸They disobeyed the message and stumbled and fell over that stone, because they were doomed.

⁹But you are God's chosen and special people. You are a group of royal priests and a holy nation. God has brought you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Now you must tell all the wonderful things that he has done. The Scriptures say,

¹⁰"Once you were nobody. Now you are God's people.

At one time no one had pity on you.

Now God has treated you with kindness.

Live as God's Servants Should

¹¹Dear friends, you are foreigners and strangers on this earth. So I beg you not to surrender to those desires that fight against you. ¹²Always let others see you behaving properly, even though they may still accuse you of doing wrong. Then on the day of judgment, they will honor God by telling the good things they saw you do.

¹³The Lord wants you to obey all human authorities, especially the Emperor, who rules over everyone. ¹⁴You must also obey governors, because they are sent by the Emperor to punish criminals and to praise good citizens. ¹⁵God wants you to silence stupid and ignorant people by doing right. ¹⁶You are free, but still you are God's servants, and you must not use your freedom as an excuse for doing wrong. ¹⁷Respect everyone and show special love for God's people. Honor God and respect the Emperor.

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