Daily Bible GNT April 23 Verses

The Living Stone and the Holy Nation

1 Peter 2 Rid yourselves, then, of all evil; no more lying or hypocrisy or jealousy or insulting language. ²Be like newborn babies, always thirsty for the pure spiritual milk, so that by drinking it you may grow up and be saved. ³As the scripture says, "You have found out for yourselves how kind the Lord is."

⁴Come to the Lord, the living stone rejected by people as worthless but chosen by God as valuable. ⁵Come as living stones, and let yourselves be used in building the spiritual temple, where you will serve as holy priests to offer spiritual and acceptable sacrifices to God through Jesus Christ. ⁶For the scripture says,

"I chose a valuable stone,

which I am placing as the cornerstone in Zion;

and whoever believes in him will never be disappointed."
⁷This stone is of great value for you that believe; but for those who do not believe:

"The stone which the builders rejected as worthless

turned out to be the most important of all."
⁸And another scripture says,

"This is the stone that will make people stumble,

the rock that will make them fall."
They stumbled because they did not believe in the word; such was God's will for them.

⁹But you are the chosen race, the King's priests, the holy nation, God's own people, chosen to proclaim the wonderful acts of God, who called you out of darkness into his own marvelous light. ¹⁰At one time you were not God's people, but now you are his people; at one time you did not know God's mercy, but now you have received his mercy.

Slaves of God

¹¹I appeal to you, my friends, as strangers and refugees in this world! Do not give in to bodily passions, which are always at war against the soul. ¹²Your conduct among the heathen should be so good that when they accuse you of being evildoers, they will have to recognize your good deeds and so praise God on the Day of his coming.

¹³For the sake of the Lord submit yourselves to every human authority: to the Emperor, who is the supreme authority, ¹⁴and to the governors, who have been appointed by him to punish the evildoers and to praise those who do good. ¹⁵For God wants you to silence the ignorant talk of foolish people by the good things you do. ¹⁶Live as free people; do not, however, use your freedom to cover up any evil, but live as God's slaves. ¹⁷Respect everyone, love other believers, honor God, and respect the Emperor.

This reading is from The Holy Bible, Today's English Version, Second Edition copyright © American Bible Society, 1992;
Old Testament copyright © American Bible Society, 1976, 1992; New Testament © American Bible Society, 1966, 1971, 1976, 1992.

These daily Bible readings from the Good News Translation (GNT), formerly the Today's English Version (TEV), are published by BibleNetUSA. The web site and BibleCard® designs are by iCreative. All BibleCard® images are copyrighted by iCreative. All rights reserved.