Warning to the Rich

5 Come now, xyou rich, weep and howl for the ymiseries that are coming upon you.  2 zYour riches have rotted and zyour garments are moth-eaten.  3 Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. aYou have laid up treasure bin the last days.  4 Behold, cthe wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and dthe cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of ethe Lord of hosts.  5 fYou have lived on the earth in luxury and gin self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in ha day of slaughter.  6 You have condemned and imurdered jthe righteous person. He does not resist you.

 Patience in Suffering

7 Be patient, therefore, brothers,1 until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives kthe early and the late rains.  8 You also, be patient. lEstablish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord mis at hand.  9 Do not grumble against one another, brothers, nso that you may not be judged; behold, othe Judge is standing pat the door.  10 As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take qthe prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.  11 Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of rthe steadfastness of Job, and you have seen sthe purpose of the Lord, how tthe Lord is compassionate and merciful.

 12 But above all, my brothers, udo not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.

 The Prayer of Faith

13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him vsing praise.  14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, wanointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.  15 And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And xif he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.  16 Therefore, yconfess your sins to one another and pray for one another, zthat you may be healed. aThe prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.2  17 Elijah was a man bwith a nature like ours, and che prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for dthree years and six months it did not rain on the earth.  18 eThen he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.

 19 My brothers, fif anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone gbrings him back,  20 let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering hwill save his soul from death and iwill cover a multitude of sins.

 1 Peter

Introduction

The readers of the apostle Peter’s letter were confused and discouraged by the persecution they were encountering because of their faith. Peter exhorted them to stand strong, repeatedly reminding them of Christ’s example, the riches of their inheritance in him, and the hope of his returning again to take them to heaven. Peter explained how Christians should respond when they suffer because of their beliefs. Called the “apostle of hope,” Peter’s primary message is to trust the Lord, live obediently no matter what your circumstances, and keep your hope fixed on God’s ultimate promise of deliverance. Suffering is to be expected, but it is temporary and yields great blessings for those who remain steadfast. Peter probably wrote this letter in the mid-60s a.d.

  Greeting

1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,

To those who are elect exiles of athe dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,  2 according to bthe foreknowledge of God the Father, cin the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and dfor sprinkling with his blood:

May egrace and fpeace be multiplied to you.

 Born Again to a Living Hope

3 gBlessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! hAccording to his great mercy, ihe has caused us to be born again to a living hope jthrough the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,  4 to kan inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and lunfading, mkept in heaven for you,  5 who by God’s power are being guarded nthrough faith for a salvation oready to be revealed in the last time.  6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by pvarious trials,  7 so that qthe tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes rthough it is tested by sfire—may be found to result in tpraise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.  8 uThough you have not seen him, you love him. vThough you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory,  9 obtaining wthe outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

 10 Concerning this salvation, xthe prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully,  11 inquiring ywhat person or time zthe Spirit of Christ in them was indicating awhen he predicted bthe sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories.  12 cIt was revealed to them that dthey were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you eby the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, fthings into which angels long to look.

 Called to Be Holy

13 Therefore, gpreparing your minds for action,1 and hbeing sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.  14 As obedient children, ido not be conformed to the passions jof your former ignorance,  15 but kas he who called you is holy, you also be holy lin all your conduct,  16 since it is written, m“You shall be holy, for I am holy.”  17 And if you ncall on him as Father who ojudges pimpartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves qwith fear throughout the time of your exile,  18 knowing that you rwere ransomed from sthe futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold,  19 but twith the precious blood of Christ, like that of ua lamb vwithout blemish or spot.  20 He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but wwas made manifest xin the last times for the sake of you  21 ywho through him are believers in God, zwho raised him from the dead and agave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

 22 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for ba sincere brotherly love, clove one another earnestly from a pure heart,  23 dsince you have been born again, enot of perishable seed but of imperishable, through fthe living and abiding word of God;  24 for

g“All flesh is like grass

and all its glory like the flower of grass.

The grass withers,

and the flower falls,

  25 hbut the word of the Lord remains forever.”

And this word iis the good news that was preached to you.

  A Living Stone and a Holy People

2 jSo put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.  2 kLike newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual lmilk, that by it you may grow up into salvation—  3 if indeed you have mtasted that the Lord is good.

 4 As you come to him, a living stone nrejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious,  5 oyou yourselves like living stones are being built up as pa spiritual house, to be qa holy priesthood, rto offer spiritual sacrifices sacceptable to God through Jesus Christ.  6 For it stands in Scripture:

t“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone,

a cornerstone chosen and precious,

uand whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”

 7 So the honor is for you who vbelieve, but for those who vdo not believe,

w“The stone that the builders rejected

has become the cornerstone,”1

 8 and

x“A stone of stumbling,

and a rock of offense.”

They stumble because they disobey the word, yas they were destined to do.

 9 But you are za chosen race, aa royal bpriesthood, ca holy nation, da people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you eout of darkness into fhis marvelous light.  10 gOnce you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

 11 Beloved, I urge you has sojourners and exiles ito abstain from the passions of the flesh, jwhich wage war against your soul.  12 kKeep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, lthey may see your good deeds and glorify God on mthe day of visitation.

 Submission to Authority

13 nBe subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution,2 whether it be to the emperor3 as supreme,  14 or to governors as sent by him oto punish those who do evil and pto praise those who do good.  15 For this is the will of God, qthat by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.  16 rLive as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but sliving as servants4 of God.  17 tHonor everyone. uLove the brotherhood. vFear God. Honor the emperor.

 18 wServants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust.  19 For this is a gracious thing, when, xmindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly.  20 For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But yif when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God.  21 For zto this you have been called, ybecause Christ also suffered for you, aleaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.  22 bHe committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth.  23 cWhen he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, dbut continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.  24 eHe himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we fmight die to sin and glive to righteousness. hBy his wounds you have been healed.  25 For iyou were straying like sheep, but have now returned to jthe Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.