For it says in scripture, “Look, I lay in Zion a stone, a chosen and priceless cornerstone, and whoever believes in him will never be put to shame.”

So they are astonished when you do not rush with them into the same flood of wickedness, and they vilify you.

For all flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of the grass; the grass withers and the flower falls off,

and a stumbling-stone and a rock to trip over. They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.

For the one who wants to love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from uttering deceit.

Yet do it with courtesy and respect, keeping a good conscience, so that those who slander your good conduct in Christ may be put to shame when they accuse you.

and maintain good conduct among the non-Christians, so that though they now malign you as wrongdoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God when he appears.

Do not return evil for evil or insult for insult, but instead bless others because you were called to inherit a blessing.

after they were disobedient long ago when God patiently waited in the days of Noah as an ark was being constructed. In the ark a few, that is eight souls, were delivered through water.

If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory, who is the Spirit of God, rests on you.

Whoever speaks, let it be with God’s words. Whoever serves, do so with the strength that God supplies, so that in everything God will be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.