
The First Epistle General of Peter

   {1:1} Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the elect who are
sojourners of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and
Bithynia, {1:2} according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in
sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the
blood of Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace be multiplied. {1:3}
Blessed [be] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according
to his great mercy begat us again unto a living hope by the
resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, {1:4} unto an inheritance
incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in
heaven for you, {1:5} who by the power of God are guarded through faith
unto a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. {1:6} Wherein
ye greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, ye have
been put to grief in manifold trials, {1:7} that the proof of your
faith, [being] more precious than gold that perisheth though it is
proved by fire, may be found unto praise and glory and honor at the
revelation of Jesus Christ: {1:8} whom not having seen ye love; on
whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice greatly with
joy unspeakable and full of glory: {1:9} receiving the end of your
faith, [even] the salvation of [your] souls. {1:10} Concerning which
salvation the prophets sought and searched diligently, who prophesied
of the grace that [should come] unto you: {1:11} searching what [time]
or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did point
unto, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the
glories that should follow them. {1:12} To whom it was revealed, that
not unto themselves, but unto you, did they minister these things,
which now have been announced unto you through them that preached the
gospel unto you by the Holy Spirit sent forth from heaven; which things
angel desire to look into. {1:13} Wherefore girding up the loins of
your mind, be sober and set your hope perfectly on the grace that is to
be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; {1:14} as
children of obedience, not fashioning yourselves according to your
former lusts in [the time of] your ignorance: {1:15} but like as he who
called you is holy, be ye yourselves also holy in all manner of living;
{1:16} because it is written, Ye shall be holy; for I am holy. {1:17}
And if ye call on him as Father, who without respect of persons judgeth
according to each man's work, pass the time of your sojourning in fear:
{1:18} knowing that ye were redeemed, not with corruptible things, with
silver or gold, from your vain manner of life handed down from your
fathers; {1:19} but with precious blood, as of a lamb without spot,
[even the blood] of Christ: {1:20} who was foreknown indeed before the
foundation of the world, but was manifested at the end of times for
your sake, {1:21} who through him are believers in God, that raised him
from the dead, and gave him glory; so that your faith and hope might be
in God. {1:22} Seeing ye have purified your souls in your obedience to
the truth unto unfeigned love of the brethren, love one another from
the heart fervently: {1:23} having been begotten again, not of
corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word of God, which
liveth and abideth. {1:24} For, All flesh is as grass, And all the
glory thereof as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the
flower falleth: {1:25} But the word of the Lord abideth for ever. And
this is the word of good tidings which was preached unto you.



   {2:1} Putting away therefore all wickedness, and all guile, and
hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, {2:2} as newborn
babes, long for the spiritual milk which is without guile, that ye may
grow thereby unto salvation; {2:3} if ye have tasted that the Lord is
gracious: {2:4} unto whom coming, a living stone, rejected indeed of
men, but with God elect, precious, {2:5} ye also, as living stones, are
built up a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer up
spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. {2:6}
Because it is contained in scripture,
Behold, I lay in Zion a chief corner stone, elect, precious:
And he that believeth on him shall not be put to shame.

   {2:7} For you therefore that believe is the preciousness: but for
such as disbelieve,
The stone which the builders rejected,
The same was made the head of the corner;

   {2:8} and,
A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence;

   for they stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they
were appointed. {2:9} But ye are a elect race, a royal priesthood, a
holy nation, a people for [God's] own possession, that ye may show
forth the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his
marvellous light: {2:10} who in time past were no people, but now are
the people of God: who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained
mercy. {2:11} Beloved, I beseech you as sojourners and pilgrims, to
abstain from fleshly lust, which war against the soul; {2:12} having
your behavior seemly among the Gentiles; that, wherein they speak
against you as evil-doers, they may by your good works, which they
behold, glorify God in the day of visitation. {2:13} Be subject to
every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether to the king, as
supreme; {2:14} or unto governors, as sent by him for vengeance on
evil-doers and for praise to them that do well. {2:15} For so is the
will of God, that by well-doing ye should put to silence the ignorance
of foolish men: {2:16} as free, and not using your freedom for a cloak
of wickedness, but as bondservants of God. {2:17} Honor all men. Love
the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king. {2:18} Servants, [be] in
subjection to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and
gentle, but also to the froward. {2:19} For this is acceptable, if for
conscience toward God a man endureth griefs, suffering wrongfully.
{2:20} For what glory is it, if, when ye sin, and are buffeted [for
it], ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer
[for it], ye shall take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.
{2:21} For hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for
you, leaving you an example, that ye should follow his steps: {2:22}
who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: {2:23} who, when
he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered threatened not; but
committed [himself] to him that judgeth righteously: {2:24} who his own
self bare our sins in his body upon the tree, that we, having died unto
sins, might live unto righteousness; by whose stripes ye were healed.
{2:25} For ye were going astray like sheep; but are now returned unto
the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.



   {3:1} In like manner, ye wives, [be] in subjection to your own
husbands; that, even if any obey not the word, they may without the
word be gained by the behavior of their wives; {3:2} beholding your
chaste behavior [coupled] with fear. {3:3} Whose [adorning] let it not
be the outward adorning of braiding the hair, and of wearing jewels of
gold, or of putting on apparel; {3:4} but [let it be] the hidden man of
the heart, in the incorruptible [apparel] of a meek and quiet spirit,
which is in the sight of God of great price. {3:5} For after this
manner aforetime the holy women also, who hoped in God, adorned
themselves, being in subjection to their own husbands: {3:6} as Sarah
obeyed Abraham, calling him lord: whose children ye now are, if ye do
well, and are not put in fear by any terror. {3:7} Ye husbands, in like
manner, dwell with [your wives] according to knowledge, giving honor
unto the woman, as unto the weaker vessel, as being also joint-heirs of
the grace of life; to the end that your prayers be not hindered. {3:8}
Finally, [be] ye all likeminded, compassionate, loving as brethren,
tenderhearted, humbleminded: {3:9} not rendering evil for evil, or
reviling for reviling; but contrariwise blessing; for hereunto were ye
called, that ye should inherit a blessing. {3:10} For,
He that would love life,
And see good days,
Let him refrain his tongue from evil,
And his lips that they speak no guile:
{3:11} And let him turn away from evil, and do good;
Let him seek peace, and pursue it.
{3:12} For the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous,
And his ears unto their supplication:
But the face of the Lord is upon them that do evil.

   {3:13} And who is he that will harm you, if ye be zealous of that
which is good? {3:14} But even if ye should suffer for righteousness'
sake, blessed [are ye:] and fear not their fear, neither be troubled;
{3:15} but sanctify in your hearts Christ as Lord: [being] ready always
to give answer to every man that asketh you a reason concerning the
hope that is in you, yet with meekness and fear: {3:16} having a good
conscience; that, wherein ye are spoken against, they may be put to
shame who revile your good manner of life in Christ. {3:17} For it is
better, if the will of God should so will, that ye suffer for
well-doing than for evil-doing. {3:18} Because Christ also suffered for
sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to
God; being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;
{3:19} in which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison,
{3:20} that aforetime were disobedient, when the longsuffering of God
waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few,
that is, eight souls, were saved through water: {3:21} which also after
a true likeness doth now save you, [even] baptism, not the putting away
of the filth of the flesh, but the interrogation of a good conscience
toward God, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ; {3:22} who is on
the right hand of God, having gone into heaven; angels and authorities
and powers being made subject unto him.





   {4:1} Forasmuch then as Christ suffered in the flesh, arm ye
yourselves also with the same mind; for he that hath suffered in the
flesh hath ceased from sin; {4:2} that ye no longer should live the
rest of your time in flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.
{4:3} For the time past may suffice to have wrought the desire of the
Gentiles, and to have walked in lasciviousness, lusts, winebibbings,
revellings, carousings, and abominable idolatries: {4:4} wherein they
think it strange that ye run not with [them] into the same excess of
riot, speaking evil of [you]: {4:5} who shall give account to him that
is ready to judge the living and the dead. {4:6} For unto this end was
the gospel preached even to the dead, that they might be judged indeed
according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.
{4:7} But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore of sound
mind, and be sober unto prayer: {4:8} above all things being fervent in
your love among yourselves; for love covereth a multitude of sins:
{4:9} using hospitality one to another without murmuring: {4:10}
according as each hath received a gift, ministering it among
yourselves, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God; {4:11} if
any man speaketh, [speaking] as it were oracles of God; is any man
ministereth, [ministering] as of the strength which God supplieth: that
in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, whose is the
glory and the dominion for ever and ever. Amen. {4:12} Beloved, think
it not strange concerning the fiery trial among you, which cometh upon
you to prove you, as though a strange thing happened unto you: {4:13}
but insomuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings, rejoice; that
at the revelation of his glory also ye may rejoice with exceeding joy.
{4:14} If ye are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed [are ye];
because the [Spirit] of glory and the Spirit of God resteth upon you.
{4:15} For let none of you suffer as a murderer, or a thief, or an
evil-doer, or as a meddler in other men's matters: {4:16} but if [a man
suffer] as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God
in this name. {4:17} For the time [is come] for judgment to begin at
the house of God: and if [it begin] first at us, what [shall be] the
end of them that obey not the gospel of God? {4:18} And if the
righteous is scarcely saved, where shall the ungodly and sinner appear?
{4:19} Wherefore let them also that suffer according to the will of God
commit their souls in well-doing unto a faithful Creator.





   {5:1} The elders among you I exhort, who am a fellow-elder, and a
witness of the sufferings of Christ, who am also a partaker of the
glory that shall be revealed: {5:2} Tend the flock of God which is
among you, exercising the oversight, not of constraint, but willingly,
according to [the will of] God; nor yet for filthy lucre, but of a
ready mind; {5:3} neither as lording it over the charge allotted to
you, but making yourselves ensamples to the flock. {5:4} And when the
chief Shepherd shall be manifested, ye shall receive the crown of glory
that fadeth not away. {5:5} Likewise, ye younger, be subject unto the
elder. Yea, all of you gird yourselves with humility, to serve one
another: for God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble.
{5:6} Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he
may exalt you in due time; {5:7} casting all your anxiety upon him,
because he careth for you. {5:8} Be sober, be watchful: your adversary
the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may
devour, {5:9} whom withstand stedfast in your faith, knowing that the
same sufferings are accomplished in your brethren who are in the world.
{5:10} And the God of all grace, who called you unto his eternal glory
in Christ, after that ye have suffered a little while, shall himself
perfect, establish, strengthen you. {5:11} To him [be] the dominion for
ever and ever. Amen. {5:12} By Silvanus, our faithful brother, as I
account [him], I have written unto you briefly, exhorting, and
testifying that this is the true grace of God. Stand ye fast therein.
{5:13} She that is in Babylon, elect together with [you], saluteth you;
and [so doth] Mark my son. {5:14} Salute one another with a kiss of
love. Peace be unto you all that are in Christ.




