First PETER
1:1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout
Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,
1:2 Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through
sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of
Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.
1:3 Blessed
be
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant
mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead,
1:4 To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away,
reserved in heaven for you,
1:5 Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be
revealed in the last time.
1:6 Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in
heaviness through manifold temptations:
1:7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that
perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour
and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:
1:8 Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see
him
not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:
1:9 Receiving the end of your faith,
even
the salvation of
your
souls.
1:10 Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who
prophesied of the grace
that should come
unto you:
1:11 Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in
them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and
the glory that should follow.
1:12 Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did
minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached
the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the
angels desire to look into.
1:13 Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end
for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
1:14 As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former
lusts in your ignorance:
1:15 But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of
conversation;
1:16 Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.
1:17 And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth
according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning
here
in fear:
1:18 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things
, as
silver and gold, from your vain conversation
received
by tradition from your fathers;
1:19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and
without spot:
1:20 Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was
manifest in these last times for you,
1:21 Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave
him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.
1:22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit
unto unfeigned love of the brethren,
see that ye
love one another with a pure heart fervently:
1:23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the
word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
1:24 For all flesh
is
as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass
withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:
1:25 But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by
the gospel is preached unto you.