5 and, like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
6 For it says in scripture:“Behold, I am laying a stone in Zion,a cornerstone, chosen and precious,and whoever believes in it shall not be put to shame.”
7 Therefore, its value is for you who have faith, but for those without faith:“The stone which the builders rejectedhas become the cornerstone,”
8 and“A stone that will make people stumble,and a rock that will make them fall.”They stumble by disobeying the word, as is their destiny.
9 But you are “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own, so that you may announce the praises” of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
10 Once you were “no people”but now you are God’s people;you “had not received mercy”but now you have received mercy.
11 Beloved, I urge you as aliens and sojourners to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against the soul.