5TH CHAPTER

Advice to Rich People

1 Pay attention to this if you’re rich. Cry and moan about the misery that is coming to you. 2 Your riches have decayed, and your clothes have been eaten by moths. 3 Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be used as evidence against you. Like fire, it will destroy your body. 

You have stored up riches in these last days. 4 The wages you refused to pay the people who harvested your fields shout ⸤to God⸥ against you. The Lord of Armies has heard the cries of those who gather the crops. 5 You have lived in luxury and pleasure here on earth. You have fattened yourselves for the day of slaughter. 6 You have condemned and murdered people who have God’s approval, even though they didn’t resist you. 

Be Patient

7 Brothers and sisters, be patient until the Lord comes again. See how farmers wait for their precious crops to grow. They wait patiently for fall and spring rains. 8 You, too, must be patient. Don’t give up hope. The Lord will soon be here. 9 Brothers and sisters, stop complaining about each other, or you will be condemned. Realize that the judge is standing at the door. 

10 Brothers and sisters, follow the example of the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. They were patient when they suffered unjustly. 11 We consider those who endure to be blessed. You have heard about Job’s endurance. You saw that the Lord ended Job’s suffering because the Lord is compassionate and merciful. 

Don’t Take Oaths

12 Above all things, my brothers and sisters, do not take an oath on anything in heaven or on earth. Do not take any oath. If you mean yes, say yes. If you mean no, say no. Do this so that you won’t be condemned. 

Prayer Is Powerful

13 If any of you are having trouble, pray. If you are happy, sing psalms. 14 If you are sick, call for the church leaders. Have them pray for you and anoint you with olive oila in the name of the Lord. 15 (Prayers offered in faith will save those who are sick, and the Lord will cure them.) If you have sinned, you will be forgiven. 16 So admit your sins to each other, and pray for each other so that you will be healed. 

Prayers offered by those who have God’s approval are effective. 17 Elijah was human like us. Yet, when he prayed that it wouldn’t rain, no rain fell on the ground for three-and-a-half years. 18 Then he prayed again. It rained, and the ground produced crops. 

Help Those Who Have Wandered Away from the Truth

19 My brothers and sisters, if one of you wanders from the truth, someone can bring that person back. 20 Realize that whoever brings a sinner back from the error of his ways will save him from death, and many sins will be forgiven. 

1 PETER

1ST CHAPTER

Greeting

1 From Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ. 

To God’s chosen people who are temporary residents ⸤in the world⸥ and are scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. 2 God the Father knew you long ago and chose you to live holy lives with the Spirit’s help so that you are obedient to Jesus Christ and are sprinkled with his blood. 

May good willa and peace fill your lives! 

Faith in Christ Brings You Joy

3 Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! God has given us a new birth because of his great mercy. We have been born into a new life that has a confidence which is alive because Jesus Christ has come back to life. 4 We have been born into a new life which has an inheritance that can’t be destroyed or corrupted and can’t fade away. That inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 5 since you are guarded by God’s power through faith for a salvation that is ready to be revealed at the end of time. 

6 You are extremely happy about these things, even though you have to suffer different kinds of trouble for a little while now. 7 The purpose of these troubles is to test your faith as fire tests how genuine gold is. Your faith is more precious than gold, and by passing the test, it gives praise, glory, and honor to God. This will happen when Jesus Christ appears again. 

8 Although you have never seen Christ, you love him. You don’t see him now, but you believe in him. You are extremely happy with joy and praise that can hardly be expressed in words 9 as you obtain the salvation that is the goal of your faith. 

10 The prophets carefully researched and investigated this salvation. Long ago they spoke about God’s kindnessb that would come to you. 11 So they tried to find out what time or situation the Spirit of Christ kept referring to whenever he predicted Christ’s sufferings and the glory that would follow. 12 God revealed to the prophets that the things they had spoken were not for their own benefit but for yours. What the prophets had spoken, the Holy Spirit, who was sent from heaven, has now made known to you by those who spread the Good News among you. These are things that even the angels want to look into. 

Live Holy Lives

13 Therefore, your minds must be clear and ready for action. Place your confidence completely in what God’s kindness will bring you when Jesus Christ appears again. 14 Because you are children who obey God, don’t live the kind of lives you once lived. Once you lived to satisfy your desires because you didn’t know any better. 15 But because the God who called you is holy, you must be holy in every aspect of your life. 16 Scripture says, “Be holy, because I am holy.” 17 So if you call God your Father, live your time as temporary residents on earth in fear. He is the God who judges all people by what they have done, and he doesn’t play favorites. 18 Realize that you weren’t set free from the worthless life handed down to you from your ancestors by a payment of silver or gold which can be destroyed. 19 Rather, the payment that freed you was the precious blood of Christ, the lamb with no defects or imperfections. 20 He is the lamb who was known long ago before the world existed, but for your good he became publicly known in the last period of time. 21 Through him you believe in God who brought Christ back to life and gave him glory. So your faith and confidence are in God. 

Love Each Other

22 Love each other with a warm love that comes from the heart. After all, you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth. As a result you have a sincere love for each other. 23 You have been born again, not from a seed that can be destroyed, but through God’s everlasting word that can’t be destroyed. That’s why ⸤Scripture says⸥, 

24  “All people are like grass, 

and all their beauty is like a flower of the field. 

The grass dries up and the flower drops off, 

25  but the word of the Lord lasts forever.” 

This word is the Good News that was told to you. 

2ND CHAPTER

Live as God’s Chosen People

1 So get rid of every kind of evil, every kind of deception, hypocrisy, jealousy, and every kind of slander. 2 Desire God’s pure word as newborn babies desire milk. Then you will grow in your salvation. 3 Certainly you have tasted that the Lord is good! 

4 You are coming to Christ, the living stone who was rejected by humans but was chosen as precious by God. 5 You come to him as living stones, a spiritual house that is being built into a holy priesthood. So offer spiritual sacrifices that God accepts through Jesus Christ. 6 That is why Scripture says, 

“I am laying a chosen and precious cornerstone in Zion, 

and the person who believes in him 

will never be ashamed.” 

7 This honor belongs to those who believe. But to those who don’t believe: 

“The stone that the builders rejected 

has become the cornerstone, 

8  a stone that people trip over, 

a large rock that people find offensive.” 

The people tripped over the word because they refused to believe it. Therefore, this is how they ended up. 

9 However, you are chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, people who belong to God. You were chosen to tell about the excellent qualities of God, who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not God’s people, but now you are. Once you were not shown mercy, but now you have been shown mercy. 

11 Dear friends, since you are foreigners and temporary residents ⸤in the world⸥, I’m encouraging you to keep away from the desires of your corrupt nature. These desires constantly attack you. 12 Live decent lives among unbelievers. Then, although they ridicule you as if you were doing wrong while they are watching you do good things, they will praise God on the day he comes to help you. 

Respect the Authority of Others

13 Place yourselves under the authority of human governments to please the Lord. Obey the emperor. He holds the highest position of authority. 14 Also obey governors. They are people the emperor has sent to punish those who do wrong and to praise those who do right. 15 God wants you to silence the ignorance of foolish people by doing what is right. 16 Live as free people, but don’t hide behind your freedom when you do evil. Instead, use your freedom to serve God. 17 Honor everyone. Love your brothers and sisters in the faith. Fear God. Honor the emperor. 

18 Slaves, place yourselves under the authority of your owners and show them complete respect. Obey not only those owners who are good and kind, but also those who are unfair. 19 God is pleased if a person is aware of him while enduring the pains of unjust suffering. 20 What credit do you deserve if you endure a beating for doing something wrong? But if you endure suffering for doing something good, God is pleased with you. 

21 God called you to endure suffering because Christ suffered for you. He left you an example so that you could follow in his footsteps. 22 Christ never committed any sin. He never spoke deceitfully. 23 Christ never verbally abused those who verbally abused him. When he suffered, he didn’t make any threats but left everything to the one who judges fairly. 24 Christ carried our sins in his body on the cross so that freed from our sins, we could live a life that has God’s approval. His wounds have healed you. 25 You were like lost sheep. Now you have come back to the shepherd and bishop of your lives.