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Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk,1 so that by it you may grow up2 in your salvation,
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now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.3
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As you come to him, the living Stone4--rejected by men but chosen by God5 and precious to him--
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you also, like living stones, are being built6 into a spiritual house7 to be a holy priesthood,8 offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.96
For in Scripture it says: "See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone,10 and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame."a117
Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,12 "The stone the builders rejected13 has become the capstone,b "c148
and, "A stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall."d15 They stumble because they disobey the message--which is also what they were destined for.169
But you are a chosen people,17 a royal priesthood,18 a holy nation,19 a people belonging to God,20 that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.2110
Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God;22 once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
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Dear friends,23 I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world,24 to abstain from sinful desires,25 which war against your soul.2612
Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds27 and glorify God28 on the day he visits us.
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