1 From Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the elect who are outsiders belonging to the Diaspora of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia,
2 elect according to the foreknowledge of God the father, in sanctification of the spirit, in obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, grace to you and may peace be plentiful.
3 Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy bore us again into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
4 into an incorruptible and undefiled and unfading inheritance reserved in the heavens for you,
5 who are guarded by the power of God through faith for a salvation which is ready to be revealed in the latter time.
6 And in this inheritance you rejoice, although for a short time now, if it is necessary, you grieve with various trials,
7 in order that the tested character of your faith might be found to be much more precious than gold which perishes, even if tested by fire, for praise and honour and for glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ,
8 whom, although you do not know him, you love, in whom, although you do not see him now, you believe and rejoice with inexpressible and glorious joy,
9 as you acquire the goal of your faith, the salvation of your beings,
10 a salvation about which the prophets – who prophesied about grace destined for you – enquired and investigated,
11 investigating at what time and under what circumstances the spirit of Christ in them was indicating, as it testified beforehand of the sufferings destined for Christ and the glories after that.
12 And to these prophets it was revealed that they were ministering not to themselves but to you the things which have now been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the holy spirit which was sent from heaven, things into which angels desire to look.
13 Therefore, gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and put hope absolutely in the grace which is being brought to you by revelation of Jesus Christ,
14 as obedient children, not being conformed to the former desires you had in your ignorance,
15 but just as he who called you is holy, so you yourselves be holy in every aspect of behaviour.
16 For it stands written, “Be holy, for I am holy.”
17 And if you call on the father, who judges impartially according to each person's work, then conduct yourselves with fear in the time of your stay here,
18 knowing that you were not redeemed by perishable things, silver or gold, from your vain comportment as handed down from the fathers,
19 but by precious blood as of a lamb without blemish and without spot – of Christ –
20 who was appointed beforehand before the overthrow of the world, but in the latter times made manifest on your account,
21 you who through him believe in God who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope should be in God.
22 Now that you have sanctified your inner selves by obedience to the truth through the spirit leading to unfeigned brotherly love, love each other intensely from a pure heart,
23 having been begotten again, not from perishable seed, but from imperishable, through the living word of God, which also remains throughout the Age.
24 For all flesh is as grass, and all glory of man is like a herbaceous flower. The grass dries up and its flower withers,
25 but the word of the Lord remains throughout the Age. And this is the word which has been preached to you.