1 1 I, Peter, who have been appointed by Jesus Christ {one whom Jesus Christ has appointed} to be an apostle, am writing this letter to you believers whom God has chosen to belong to him. You are living in the Roman provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. Just like the Jews who lived in Israel long ago were scattered to other countries far from their homes [MET], you now live far from heaven, which is your true home. 2 God our Father previously chose you, and his Spirit has set you apart in order that you would obey Jesus Christ. He did that in order that just like Moses sprinkled the Israelites with blood when God established the old covenant [MET], Jesus would establish his new covenant with you with the blood that flowed from his body when he died. May God act very kindly to you, and may he give you much inner peace.
3 Praise God, who is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! Because he has been very merciful to us, he has given us new life [MET]. Because he has caused Jesus Christ to become alive again after he died, he has enabled us to live very confidently; that is, to fully expect to receive the things that God/he has promised to give us. 4 He has enabled us to expect to receive an absolutely imperishable/indestructible [TRI] inheritance that has been {that God has} preserved in heaven for us. 5 God, by his mighty power, is guarding you as you trust in Jesus. He is keeping you safe so that he may, at the end of the time in which we now live (OR, when Jesus returns), completely deliver you from Satan’s power. 6 You rejoice because of what will happen then, but now you are grieving for a short time while God is allowing you to be tested {various things to test you [MET]}, as precious metals are tested {someone tests precious metals} to see if they are pure. These trials that you are experiencing are necessary 7 to prove that you really do trust in Jesus. His proving that will be more valuable than gold, which does not last forever even though it is purified by being put {someone tries to make it pure by putting it} in a hot fire. As a result of your passing the test and proving that you really do trust in Jesus, God will honor you very highly [TRI] when Jesus Christ comes again. 8 You love Jesus, although you have not seen him. Although you do not see him now, you rejoice very much [DOU] 9 because you are experiencing the result of your believing in him; that is, God is saving you [SYN] from the guilt of your sins.
10 As for those who long ago spoke messages that God had revealed to them about how God would act kindly toward you in ways which you did not deserve, they ◄investigated very carefully/tried very hard to learn► [DOU] about how God would save you. 11 They wanted to know whom the Spirit of Christ that was in them was referring to, and what time he was talking about, when he told beforehand that the Messiah would suffer and die, and that glorious/wonderful things would happen to him and to us afterwards. 12 It was revealed to {God told} them that it was not for their own sake that he was revealing these things to them, but that it was for your sake. It was these things that were proclaimed to you by those who told you the message about Christ {that those who told you the message about Christ proclaimed to you}. They proclaimed these things to you because the Holy Spirit whom God sent from heaven enabled them to do that. And even angels would like to know more about these truths about how God saves us.
13 Therefore, prepare your minds [MET] as people fasten their belts around their waists to prepare to work. What I mean is that you should ◄discipline your minds/control what you think about►, and by doing that conduct your lives fully and confidently expecting to receive the good things that God will kindly do for you when Jesus Christ returns from heaven. 14 And because you should obey your heavenly Father [SIM], as children ought to obey their fathers here on earth, do not do the evil things that you used to desire to do when you did not know God’s truth. 15 Instead, just like God, the one who chose you to belong to him, is ◄holy/separate from evil►, you also must be ◄holy/separate from evil► in everything that you do, 16 because it is {someone/Moses has} written in the Scriptures that God said, “You must be ◄holy/separate from evil► because I am ◄holy/separate from evil►.”
17 God is the one who ◄impartially/without favoritism► judges what each person does. Since you call him ‘Father’, live ◄reverently/with great respect for him► during the time that you are living here on earth. While you are living here, you are like exiles/foreigners [MET] because you are away from heaven, which is your true home. 18 Live reverently because you know that it was not with things that will not last forever, things like gold and silver, that God bought you to free you from your useless life-style that you learned from your ancestors. 19 Instead, it was with the precious blood of Christ that flowed from his body when he died that God bought you. Christ’s death was a perfect sacrifice for us [MET], like the lambs that the Jewish priests sacrificed were perfect, without any blemishes/defects/flaws or spots [DOU]. 20 Christ was chosen by God {God chose Christ} before the world was created {he created the world}. But it was not until now, when the time in which we are living will soon end, that he was revealed for your sake. 21 Because of what Christ has done, you are trusting in God, who caused Christ to become alive again after he died, and greatly honored him. As a result, God is the one in whom you are trusting and confidently expecting that he will do great things for you.
22 Because you have been made pure by obeying the truth, with the result that you sincerely love your fellow believers, continue to love each other earnestly and sincerely/wholeheartedly. 23 I ask you to do this, because you now have a new life [MET]. It was not by means of something that will perish that you received this new life. Instead, it was by means of something that will last forever; that is, by believing the life-giving and enduring message of God. 24 We know that this is true because, as the prophet Isaiah wrote,
All people will die [SIM], like grass dies. And all the greatness/honor that people have will not last forever,
like the flowers [SIM] that grow up in the grass do not last long.
The grass withers and the flowers die,
25 but God’s message endures/lasts forever.
This message that endures/lasts is the message about Christ that was proclaimed to you.
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. 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. 3 Also, you need to do this because you have experienced that the Lord acts in a good way toward you.
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. 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. 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.
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►.
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.
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. 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.
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. 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►.
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, 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. 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►. 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. 17 Act respectfully toward everyone. Love all your fellow believers. Revere God, and honor 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. 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}. 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. 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. 22 Remember how Christ conducted himself:
He never sinned,
And he never said [MTY] anything to deceive people.
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).
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. 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].
3 1 You women believers, just like slaves should submit themselves to their masters, submit yourselves to your husbands. Do that in order that if any of them do not believe the message about Christ, they may become believers without it being necessary for you to say anything to them about their relationship to God. 2 They will believe in Christ when they see that you respect them and that your way of life is pure. 3 Do not be trying to make yourselves beautiful by decorating the outside of your bodies, such as ◄by the way you comb your hair/by your hair style► or by wearing gold jewelry and fine clothes. 4 Instead, make your ◄inner beings/hearts► beautiful with qualities/attitudes that will not fade away. Specifically, have a humble and quiet/calm attitude, which is something that God considers to be very valuable. 5 ◄The devout women/The women who habitually worshipped God► who lived long ago and who trusted in God made themselves beautiful by having attitudes like that, and by being submissive to their husbands. 6 Sarah, for example, obeyed her husband Abraham and called him ‘my master’. You will be as though you are [MET] her daughters if you do what is right and are not afraid of what your husbands or anyone else may do to you because you are believers.
7 You men who are believers, just like your wives should respect you, you should conduct your lives in an appropriate way with them. Treat them respectfully, realizing that they are usually weaker than you are, and realizing that ◄they share with you/both of you have► the gift that God has kindly given to you, which is eternal life. Do this so that nothing will hinder you from praying (OR, hinder God ◄from answering/from doing what you ask for► when you pray).
8 To end this part of my letter, I say to all of you, agree with each other in what you think. Be sympathetic toward each other. Love each other as members of the same family should. Act compassionately toward each other. Be humble. 9 When people do evil things to you or insult you, do not ◄retaliate/repay them by► doing evil things to them or insulting them. Instead, ask God to bless them, because that is what you have been chosen by God {what God called you} to do, in order that you may receive a blessing from him. 10 Consider what the Psalmist wrote about the proper way of conducting our lives,
As for those who want ◄to enjoy life/to live happily► and experience good things happening to them every day,
they must not say [MTY] something that is evil or say [MTY] something that deceives others.
11 They must continually turn away from doing anything that is evil, and must do things that are good instead.
They must deeply desire to enable people to act peacefully toward each other;
they must zealously urge people to act in a peaceful way,
12 because the Lord sees [MTY] what righteous people do and he appreciates/likes what they do.
He listens to righteous people when they pray, and he answers them.
But he is [MTY] opposed to those who do evil things.
13 If you ◄are eager/try very hard► to do good things, most people will not harm you. [RHQ] 14 But even if you suffer because of doing what is right, God will bless you. Do as Isaiah wrote: “Do not be afraid of people who ◄threaten you/say things to cause you to be afraid of what they might do to you►, and do not worry about [DOU] what they might do to you.” 15 Instead, acknowledge that Christ is the one who is in complete control of your lives. Always be ready to answer everyone who demands that you tell them about what you confidently expect God to do for you. 16 But answer them humbly and respectfully, and make sure that you ◄do/have done► nothing wrong, in order that those who say evil things about you may be ashamed when they see the good way in which you are conducting yourselves because of your relationship with Christ. 17 It may be that God wants you to suffer. But it is better to do good things, even if you suffer for doing them, than to do evil things and suffer for doing that. 18 I say that because Christ died once for the sake of people who have sinned. He was a righteous person who died for unrighteous people. He died in order that ◄he might bring us to/we might begin an intimate relationship with► God. During the time that he had an ordinary body, he was killed {people killed him}, but God’s Spirit caused him to become alive again. 19 The Spirit also helped him as he went to proclaim God’s victory to the evil spirits whom God had imprisoned in the heavens (OR, to the spirits of those who had died, and who were in the place where the spirits of dead people are). 20 Long ago, during the time that Noah was building a big boat, those evil spirits disobeyed God when he waited patiently [PRS] to see if people would turn from their evil behavior. Only a few people were saved {God saved only a few people} in that boat. Specifically, God brought only eight persons safely through the waters of the flood, while all the others drowned in it. 21 That water, by means of which eight people were saved when God punished the other people [MET], represents the water in which we are baptized to show that God has saved us from being punished. The water in which we are baptized does not remove dirt from our bodies. Instead, it shows that we are requesting God to assure us that he has removed our guilt for having sinned. And because Jesus Christ became alive again after he died, we know that God accepted his sacrifice for us and because of that he was able to remove our guilt. 22 Christ has gone into heaven and is ruling [MTY] in the place of highest honor ◄next to God/at God’s side►, after God caused all the evil and powerful spirit beings [DOU] to be made subject to him.
4 1 Therefore, because Christ suffered physically, you also must think the way that he did when he was willing to suffer, because those who suffer physicallybecause of belonging to Jesus have stopped sinning the way they used to sin. 2 As a result, during their remaining time here on earth, they do not do the things that sinful people desire to do, but instead they do the things that God wants them to do. 3 I say that to you because [SAR] you have already spent too much of your time here on earth doing what the people who do not know God like to do. In the past you committed all kinds of sexually immoral acts [DOU], you got drunk and then participated in ◄orgies/wild parties► and carousing/revelry, and you worshipped idols, which is very displeasing to God. 4 Because you used to do those things, your friends are surprised that you do not join them anymore when they participate in that kind of wild behavior that ◄is rushing to/will quickly► destroy them like [MET] a flood. As a result, they say evil things about you. 5 But God is ready to judge the people who are living now and the people who have died, and he is the one who will decide whether he approves of what each of them has done. 6 That is the reason why the message about Christ was preached {people preached the message about Christ} to believers who have now died. That message was preached to them in order that even though sinful people might judge them and say that they are guilty, God’s Spirit would enable them to live eternally.
7 It is almost the time when everything on this earth will come to an end. Therefore, keep thinking sensibly/reasonably and control what you think [DOU], so that you can pray clearly. 8 Most important of all, love each other earnestly/wholeheartedly, because if we love others [PRS], we will just ignore many of the sinful things that they do to us. 9 Provide food and a place to sleep for those who come to your community, and do it without complaining. 10 Believers should all use the spiritual gifts that God has given them to serve others. They should manage/use well the various gifts that God has kindly given them. 11 Those who speak to the congregation should do that as though they are speaking the very words of God. Those who do kind things to others should do it with the strength that God gives them, in order that God may be honored by all this {that all this may honor God} as Jesus Christ enables us to do it. I pray that we will praise God (OR, Jesus) and allow him to rule over us forever. ◄May it be so!/Amen!►
12 You whom I love, do not be surprised about the painful things that you are suffering because you belong to Christ. Those things are testing you as metals are tested by people putting them in a fire. Do not think that something strange is happening to you. 13 Instead, rejoice that you are suffering the same kinds of things that Christ endured. Rejoice when you suffer, in order that you may also be very glad [DOU] when Christ returns and reveals how glorious/wonderful he is. 14 If you are insulted {If people insult you} because you believe in Christ [MTY], God is pleased with you, because it shows that the Spirit of God, the Spirit who reveals how great God is, lives within you. 15 If you suffer, do not let that suffering be the result of your being a murderer or a thief or as a result of doing some other evil thing, or as a result of interfering in someone else’s affairs. 16 But if you suffer because of being a Christian, do not be ashamed about it. Instead, praise God that you are suffering because of belonging to Christ [MTY]. 17 I say that, because it is now time for God to begin judging people, and first he will judge those who belong [MTY] to him. Since he will judge us believers first, think about the terrible things that will happen to [RHQ] those who do not obey the good message that comes from him! 18 That will be as it is written in the Scriptures,
Many righteous people will have to suffer many difficult trials before going to heaven.
So ungodly and sinful people will surely have to suffer much severe punishment from God!
19 Therefore, those who suffer because of its being God’s will that they suffer because of being Christians should commit themselves to God, the one who created them and the one who always does what he promises to do. And they should continue to do what is right.
5 1 Now I will say this to those among you who are elders in the congregations: I also am an elder. I am one of those who saw Christ when he suffered, and I am also one who will share some of the glory/greatness that Christ has in heaven. 2 I appeal to you elders to take care of the people who are in your congregations [MET] as shepherds take care of their flocks of sheep. Do this, not because you must do it, but instead do it willingly, as God desires. Do not be greedy to get a lot of money for doing it, but instead do it enthusiastically/wholeheartedly. 3 Do not act like domineering bosses over the people [MET] whom God has assigned/entrusted to you, but instead be examples to them by the way in which you conduct your lives. 4 If you do that, when Jesus, who is like our chief shepherd [MET], appears, he will give each of you a glorious/wonderful reward [MET]. That reward will be like the wreaths that are given to victorious athletes, but your reward will never wither like wreaths do.
5 Now I will say this to you young men and women: Just like married men and women are ◄to be subject/to submit themselves► to their spouses, you must ◄be subject/submit yourselves► ◄to the older men/to the leaders► of the congregation. And all of you believers should act [MET] humbly toward each other, because this proverb is true:
God opposes people who are proud, but he acts kindly toward those who are humble.
6 Therefore, realizing that God has great power [MTY] to punish proud people, humble yourselves, in order that he may honor you at the time that he has determined. 7 Because he takes care of you, let him take care of all the things that you are worried/concerned about.
8 Always be fully alert, because the devil, who is your enemy, is going/sneaking around, looking for people to destroy. He is like [SIM] a lion who roars as it prowls around, seeking someone to kill and devour. 9 You must resist him by continuing to firmly trust in Christ and his message, remembering that your fellow believers all over the world are experiencing similar sufferings that the devil is bringing to them. 10 God is the one who kindly helps us in every situation, and he is the one who chose us to share his eternal glory/greatness in heaven because of our relationship with Christ. And after you have suffered for a while because of things that people do to harm you, he will remove your spiritual defects/imperfections, he will strengthen you spiritually [DOU], and he will support you emotionally. 11 I pray/desire that he will rule powerfully forever. ◄May it be so!/Amen!►
12 Silas has written this letter for me as I have ◄dictated it to him/told him what to write►. I consider/know that he is a faithful fellow believer. I have written this short letter to you to encourage you, and I want to assure you that what I have written is a true message about the things that God kindly does for us, things that we do not deserve. Continue to firmly believe this message.
13 In this city that is sometimes referred to as ‘Babylon’ [MET], the believers [SYN], whom God has chosen to belong to him just like he chose you, ◄send you (pl) their greetings/say that they are thinking affectionately about you►. Mark, who is [MET] like a son to me, also ◄sends you his greetings/says that he is thinking affectionately about you►. 14 Greet each other with a kiss on the cheek to show that you love each other. I pray that God will give inner peace to all of you who have a relationship with Christ.