1Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered through Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,
2who are chosen, as God the Father knew beforehand, and made holy by the Spirit, so that you would obey and be sprinkled with the blood of Jesus Christ: May grace and peace be given to you in full measure.
3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
4We are born into an inheritance that cannot decay or be stained, and that never fades away. It is kept in heaven for you.
5You are guarded by the power of God through faith, until the salvation that is ready to be revealed at the last time.
6In this you are very glad, even though now, for a little while, if it must be so, you are sad because of many trials.
7These trials test your faith, which is far more precious than gold, for gold perishes even though it is tested by fire. Then your faith will be found to bring praise and honour and glory when Jesus Christ appears.
8You have not seen him, yet you love him. You do not see him now, yet you believe in him, and you are filled with a joy too great for words, a joy full of glory.
9And you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
10The prophets searched carefully and asked about this salvation. They spoke beforehand of the grace that was to come to you.
11They searched to find what time, and what kind of time, the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing to. For that Spirit told beforehand of the sufferings of Christ, and of the glory that would follow.
12It was shown to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things. They have now been told to you by those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven. These are things the angels long to look into.
13So then, get your minds ready for work. Be sober. Set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed.
14Be like obedient children. Do not shape your lives by the wrong desires you had before, when you did not know better.
15But as the one who called you is holy, so you must be holy in all your conduct,
16because it is written, "Be holy, for I am holy."
17You call on the Father, who judges each person's work without favouring anyone. So live out the time you stay here in fear.
18You know that you were not set free by things that decay, such as silver or gold, from the empty way of life handed down to you by your fathers.
19You were set free by the precious blood of Christ, a lamb with no fault and no stain.
20He was chosen before the world was made, but was shown openly in these last times for your sake.
21Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.
22You have made your souls pure by obeying the truth through the Spirit, so that you have a true love for the brothers and sisters. So love one another deeply, from a pure heart.
23You have been born again, not from seed that decays, but from seed that cannot decay, through the word of God, which lives and lasts for ever.
24For all flesh is like grass, and all the glory of man is like the flower of the grass. The grass dries up, and its flower falls off,
25but the word of the Lord lasts for ever. And this is the word that was preached to you in the gospel.