< 1 Peter 2 >
1 MAKE to cease therefore from you all malice and all guile, and dissimulation, and envy, and slander;
2 and be as (new)-born babes, and be desirous of the word as of milk pure and spiritual, that by it you may increase unto life.
3 If you have tasted and seen how good is the Lord,
4 unto whom you have come, who is the living stone whom men have rejected, yet (who is) chosen and honourable with Aloha.
5 And you also as living stones are builded, and become a spiritual temple, and holy priests to offer sacrifices, which are acceptable before Aloha by Jeshu Meshiha.
6 For it is said in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion a stone choice and honourable in the head of the corner: whosoever believeth in him shall not be ashamed.
7 To you therefore is given this honour, to them who believe: but to them who are disobedient he is a rock of offence,
8 or a stone of stumbling, and they are offended at him in not obeying the word, because to this they are set.
9 But you are a chosen race, who minister as priests to the kingdom, a holy people, a congregation redeemed to announce the praises of him who hath called you from darkness to his transcendant light:
10 those who before were not reputed a people, but now the people of Aloha; upon whom also mercies were not; but now, mercies are poured upon you.
11 MY beloved, I beseech you as strangers and as sojourners, be separate from all the lusts of the body which make wars against the soul.
12 And let your conversation be good before all men; and they who speak against you malicious words shall see your good deeds, and shall glorify Aloha in the day of the probation.
13 And be subject to all men for the sake of Aloha: to kings, on account of their authority;
14 and to judges, because from him they are sent for the punishment of transgressors, and for the commendation of good works.
15 For so is the will of Aloha, that by your comely works you may shut the mouth of fools who know not Aloha.
16 As the sons of liberty, yet not as men who make their liberty a veil for their wickedness, but as the servants of Aloha.
17 Honour all; your brethren love; and Aloha revere; and kings honour.
18 And those servants who are among you, be subject to your masters with reverence; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the hard and the severe.
19 For these are pleasing before Aloha, who, for the sake of a good conscience, endure the afflictions that come upon them unjustly.
20 For they who on account of their offences suffer tribulations, what praise have they? But when you do well and they afflict you, and you endure, then doth your praise become great with Aloha.
21 For unto this have you been called; because the Meshiha also hath died for us, and left us this example, that in his steps we may walk.
22 Who did no sin, nor was guile found in his mouth;
23 who was reviled and reviled not, and suffered and threatened not, but delivered his cause to the Judge of righteousness;
24 and took all our sins and upbore them in his body on the cross; that when dead to sin, in the righteousness of him we might live; for by his stripes you are healed,
25 who had wandered as sheep, and are returned now unto the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.