5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
6 For in Scripture it says:"See, I lay a stone in Zion,a chosen and precious cornerstone,and the one who trusts in himwill never be put to shame."
7 Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,"The stone the builders rejectedhas become the cornerstone,"
8 and,"A stone that causes people to stumbleand a rock that makes them fall." They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for.
9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
11 Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul.