1 Peter 2

1 Therefore, do not act maliciously in any way or deceive others. Do not (be a hypocrite/try to make others think that you have qualities that you do not really have), and do not (envy/be jealous of) others. Do not ever slander anyone.

Laying aside therefore all malice and all guile and hypocrisies and envyings and all evil speakings,

2 Just like newborn babies [long for their mothers’] pure milk [MET], you should long for [God’s] spiritual [truth], so that by learning it you may become [spiritually] mature. [You need to] do this until the day when God [will] free you completely [from all the evil in this world].

as newborn babes desire earnestly the pure mental milk of the word, that by it ye may grow up to salvation,

3 [Also, you need to do this] because you have experienced that the Lord [acts in] a good way toward you.

if indeed ye have tasted that the Lord [is] good.

4 You have come to the Lord Jesus. He is [like an important] stone [MET] [put in the foundation of a building], [but he is] alive, [not lifeless like a stone]. He was rejected by [many] people {[Many] people rejected him}, but God chose him and [considers him] to be very precious.

To whom coming, a living stone, cast away indeed as worthless by men, but with God chosen, precious,

5 [And like men] build houses with stones [MET], [God] is causing you to be joined together into a group in which [God’s] Spirit [lives], in order that you, because of what Jesus Christ did for us, might, like priests who offer sacrifices, [do things] that are pleasing to God.

yourselves also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.

6 [What Isaiah wrote] in the Scriptures [shows us that this is true]. [He wrote these words that God said]: Note this well: I am placing in Jerusalem [MTY] [one who is like] [MET] an extremely valuable [DOU] (stone/cornerstone, the most important stone in the structure of a building), and those who believe in him will never be disappointed.

Because it is contained in the scripture: Behold, I lay in Zion a corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believes on him shall not be put to shame.

7 Therefore, [God will] honor you who believe in [Jesus]. But those who [refuse to] believe in him [are like the builders] that this Scripture [talks about]: The stone that the builders rejected has become (the cornerstone/the most important stone in the foundation of the building).

To you therefore who believe [is] the preciousness; but to the disobedient, the stone which the builders cast away as worthless, this is become head of [the] corner,

8 And [it is also written] {[Isaiah wrote]} in the Scriptures: [He will be like] a stone that causes people to stumble, like a rock that people trip over. [Just as people are injured when] they stumble over a rock, people who disobey the message [about Jesus are injured spiritually], and that is what [God] determined would happen to them.

and a stone of stumbling and rock of offence; [who] stumble at the word, being disobedient to which also they have been appointed.

9 But you are people whom God has chosen [to belong to him]. You are [a group that represents God like] priests do, and you rule with God [MET] like kings. You are (a holy group of people/a group of people who are separate from evil). You are people who belong to God. This is in order that you might proclaim the virtues of [God. He has] called you from [your former ways], [when you were ignorant of his truth], into the marvelous [understanding that he gives us] [MET]. [That is, he has called you] out of [spiritual] darkness into [spiritual] light.

But ye [are] a chosen race, a kingly priesthood, a holy nation, a people for a possession, that ye might set forth the excellencies of him who has called you out of darkness to his wonderful light;

10 [What the prophet Hosea wrote is true of you] Formerly, you were not a people [who had a relationship with God], But now you are God’s people. At one time [God] had not acted mercifully toward you, But now he has acted mercifully toward you.

who once [were] not a people, but now God's people; who were not enjoying mercy, but now have found mercy.

11 You people whom I love, I urge you to consider that you are like foreigners [MET, DOU] [whose real home is in heaven]. As a result, avoid doing the things that your self-directed nature desires, because those desires (fight against/always oppose) your souls.

Beloved, I exhort [you], as strangers and sojourners, to abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;

12 Keep conducting your lives in a good way among those who do not know God. [If you do that], although they may accuse you, saying that you are people who do evil things, they will see your good behavior, and at the time when God comes [to judge people], they will (give honor to him/say that what he does is right).

having your conversation honest among the Gentiles, that [as to that] in which they speak against you as evildoers, they may through [your] good works, [themselves] witnessing [them], glorify God in [the] day of visitation.

13 For the sake of the Lord [Jesus], submit yourselves to every human authority. That includes submitting yourselves to the king, who is the most important authority,

Be in subjection [therefore] to every human institution for the Lord's sake; whether to [the] king as supreme,

14 and to governors, who are sent by the king {whom the king sends} to punish those who do what is wrong and to commend/honor those who do what is right.

or to rulers as sent by him, for vengeance on evildoers, and praise to them that do well.

15 What God wants is that by your doing [only] what is good you will cause foolish people who do not know [God] to be unable to say things ([to condemn you/to show you why you should be punished]).

Because so is the will of God, that by well-doing ye put to silence the ignorance of senseless men;

16 Conduct your lives as though you were free [from having to obey authorities], but do not think “Because I am free from having to obey authorities, I can do evil things.” Instead, act as servants of God [should].

as free, and not as having liberty as a cloak of malice, but as God's bondmen.

17 Act respectfully toward everyone. Love all your fellow believers. Revere God, and honor the king.

Shew honour to all, love the brotherhood, fear God, honour the king.

18 You slaves [who are believers], submit yourselves to your masters and completely respect them. Submit yourselves not only to those who [act in a] good and kind [DOU] way towards you, but also submit yourselves to those who [act in a] harsh way [towards you].

Servants, [be] subject with all fear to your masters, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the ill-tempered.

19 You should do that because God is pleased with those who, knowing that he is aware of what is happening to them, endure the pain that they suffer [because of being treated unjustly by their masters] {[their masters have treated them unjustly]}.

For this [is] acceptable, if one, for conscience sake towards God, endure griefs, suffering unjustly.

20 God will certainly not [RHQ] be pleased with you if you do something that is wrong and as a result you are beaten {someone beats you}! But if, instead of doing something that is wrong, you do what is good, and as a result of that, you suffer for doing something that is good, and you endure that suffering, God will (commend/be pleased with) you.

For what glory [is it], if sinning and being buffeted ye shall bear [it]? but if, doing good and suffering, ye shall bear [it], this is acceptable with God.

21 One of the reasons why God chose you is that you would [suffer]. When Christ suffered for you, he became an example for you, in order that you would (imitate what/do like) he did.

For to this have ye been called; for Christ also has suffered for you, leaving you a model that ye should follow in his steps:

22 [Remember how Christ conducted himself]: He never sinned, And he never said [MTY] anything to deceive people.

who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth;

23 When people insulted him, he did not insult them in return. When people caused him to suffer, he did not threaten (to get revenge/to cause them to suffer). Instead, he decided to let God, who always judges justly, prove that he (was innocent/had done nothing that is wrong) (OR, he left his case in the hands of God, who always judges justly).

who, [when] reviled, reviled not again; [when] suffering, threatened not; but gave [himself] over into the hands of him who judges righteously;

24 He himself endured physically the punishment for our sins when he died on the cross, in order that we would stop sinning (OR, no longer respond to sinful desires) and start living righteous lives. It is because he was wounded {they wounded him} that your [souls have been saved] [MET] [from being sinful, as people’s bodies] are healed [from being sick].

who himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, in order that, being dead to sins, we may live to righteousness: by whose stripes ye have been healed.

25 Truly you were like sheep that had gone astray [SIM], but now you have returned to [Jesus], who cares for your souls [as] a shepherd [cares for his sheep] [MET].

For ye were going astray as sheep, but have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls.