Christ the Living Stone

2 So put aside all wickedness, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all slander. 2 Like newborn babies, long for pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may [fn]grow, 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. 4 As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but chosen and precious in the sight of God, 5 you yourselves, like living stones, are being built up as a spiritual [fn]house, a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 [fn]For it says in Scripture,

“Behold, I lay in Zion a stone,

a chosen and precious cornerstone,

and no one who believes in him will ever be put to shame.”

7 This precious value is for you who believe, but to those who [fn]are disobedient,

“The stone the builders rejected

has become the cornerstone,”

8 and,

“A stone of stumbling,

and a rock of offense.”

By disobeying the word they stumble, which is what they were appointed to do.

9 But you are a chosen lineage, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.