1 From: Kefa, an emissary of Yeshua the Messiah

To: God’s chosen people, living as aliens in the Diaspora — in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, the province of Asia, and Bythinia — ² chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father and set apart by the Spirit for obeying Yeshua the Messiah and for sprinkling with his blood:

Grace and shalom be yours in full measure.

³ Praised be God, Father of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, who, in keeping with his great mercy, has caused us, through the resurrection of Yeshua the Messiah from the dead, to be born again to a living hope, ⁴ to an inheritance that cannot decay, spoil or fade, kept safe for you in heaven. ⁵ Meanwhile, through trusting, you are being protected by God’s power for a deliverance ready to be revealed at the Last Time. ⁶ Rejoice in this, even though for a little while you may have to experience grief in various trials. ⁷ Even gold is tested for genuineness by fire. The purpose of these trials is so that your trust’s genuineness, which is far more valuable than perishable gold, will be judged worthy of praise, glory and honor at the revealing of Yeshua the Messiah.

⁸ Without having seen him, you love him. Without seeing him now, but trusting in him, you continue to be full of joy that is glorious beyond words. ⁹ And you are receiving what your trust is aiming at, namely, your deliverance.

¹⁰ The prophets, who prophesied about this gift of deliverance that was meant for you, pondered and inquired diligently about it. ¹¹ They were trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of the Messiah in them was referring in predicting the Messiah’s sufferings and the glorious things to follow. ¹² It was revealed to them that their service when they spoke about these things was not for their own benefit, but for yours. And these same things have now been proclaimed to you by those who communicated the Good News to you through the Ruach HaKodesh sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things!

¹³ Therefore, get your minds ready for work, keep yourselves under control, and fix your hopes fully on the gift you will receive when Yeshua the Messiah is revealed. ¹⁴ As people who obey God, do not let yourselves be shaped by the evil desires you used to have when you were still ignorant. ¹⁵ On the contrary, following the Holy One who called you, become holy yourselves in your entire way of life; ¹⁶ since the Tanakh says,

“You are to be holy because I am holy.”^[a]

¹⁷ Also, if you are addressing as Father the one who judges impartially according to each person’s actions, you should live out your temporary stay on earth in fear. ¹⁸ You should be aware that the ransom paid to free you from the worthless way of life which your fathers passed on to you did not consist of anything perishable like silver or gold; ¹⁹ on the contrary, it was the costly bloody sacrificial death of the Messiah, as of a lamb without defect or spot. ²⁰ God knew him before the founding of the universe, but revealed him in the acharit-hayamim for your sakes. ²¹ Through him you trust in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory; so that your trust and hope are in God.

²² Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth, so that you have a sincere love for your brothers, love each other deeply, with all your heart. ²³ You have been born again not from some seed that will decay, but from one that cannot decay, through the living Word of God that lasts forever. ²⁴ For

Moreover, this Word is the Good News which has been proclaimed to you.

2 Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice, of all deceit, hypocrisy and envy, and of all the ways there are of speaking against people; ² and be like newborn babies, thirsty for the pure milk of the Word; so that by it, you may grow up into deliverance. ³ For you have tasted that Adonai is good.^[c]

⁴ As you come to him, the living stone, rejected by people but chosen by God and precious to him, ⁵ you yourselves, as living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be cohanim set apart for God to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to him through Yeshua the Messiah. ⁶ This is why the Tanakh says,

⁷ Now to you who keep trusting, he is precious. But to those who are not trusting,

⁸ also he is

They are stumbling at the Word, disobeying it — as had been planned. ⁹ But you are a chosen people,^[g] the King’s cohanim,^[h] a holy nation,^[i] a people for God to possess!^[j] Why? In order for you to declare the praises of the One who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. ¹⁰ Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; before, you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.^[k]

¹¹ Dear friends, I urge you as aliens and temporary residents^[l] not to give in to the desires of your old nature, which keep warring against you; ¹² but to live such good lives among the pagans that even though they now speak against you as evil-doers, they will, as a result of seeing your good actions, give glory to God on the Day of his coming. ¹³ For the sake of the Lord, submit yourselves to every human authority — whether to the emperor as being supreme, ¹⁴ or to governors as being sent by him to punish wrongdoers and praise those who do what is good. ¹⁵ For it is God’s will that your doing good should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. ¹⁶ Submit as people who are free, but not letting your freedom serve as an excuse for evil; rather, submit as God’s slaves. ¹⁷ Be respectful to all — keep loving the brotherhood, fearing God and honoring the emperor.

¹⁸ Household servants, submit yourselves to your masters, showing them full respect — and not only those who are kind and considerate, but also those who are harsh. ¹⁹ For it is a grace when someone, because he is mindful of God, bears up under the pain of undeserved punishment. ²⁰ For what credit is there in bearing up under a beating you deserve for doing something wrong? But if you bear up under punishment, even though you have done what is right, God looks on it with favor. ²¹ Indeed, this is what you were called to; because the Messiah too suffered, on your behalf, leaving an example so that you should follow in his steps.

²³ When he was insulted, he didn’t retaliate with insults; when he suffered, he didn’t threaten, but handed them over to him who judges justly. ²⁴ He himself bore our sins^[n] in his body on the stake,^[o] so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness — by his wounds you were healed.^{[p] 25} For you used to be like sheep gone astray, but now you have turned to^[q] the Shepherd, who watches over you.

3 In the same way, wives, submit to your husbands; so that even if some of them do not believe the Word, they will be won over by your conduct, without your saying anything, ² as they see your respectful and pure behavior. ³ Your beauty should not consist in externals such as fancy hairstyles, gold jewelry or what you wear; ⁴ rather, let it be the inner character of your heart, with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit. In God’s sight this is of great value. ⁵ This is how the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to adorn themselves and submit to their husbands, ⁶ the way Sarah obeyed Avraham, honoring him as her lord. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not succumb to fear.

⁷ You husbands, likewise, conduct your married lives with understanding. Although your wife may be weaker physically, you should respect her as a fellow-heir of the gift of Life. If you don’t, your prayers will be blocked.

⁸ Finally, all of you, be one in mind and feeling; love as brothers; and be compassionate and humble-minded, ⁹ not repaying evil with evil or insult with insult, but, on the contrary, with blessing. For it is to this that you have been called, so that you may receive a blessing. ¹⁰ For

¹³ For who will hurt you if you become zealots for what is good? ¹⁴ But even if you do suffer for being righteous, you are blessed! Moreover, don’t fear what they fear or be disturbed, ¹⁵ but treat the Messiah as holy, as Lord in your hearts;^[s] while remaining always ready to give a reasoned answer to anyone who asks you to explain the hope you have in you — yet with humility and fear, ¹⁶ keeping your conscience clear, so that when you are spoken against, those who abuse the good behavior flowing from your union with the Messiah may be put to shame. ¹⁷ For if God has in fact willed that you should suffer, it is better that you suffer for doing what is good than for doing what is evil.

¹⁸ For the Messiah himself died for sins, once and for all, a righteous person on behalf of unrighteous people, so that he might bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh but brought to life by the Spirit; ¹⁹ and in this form he went and made a proclamation to the imprisoned spirits, ²⁰ to those who were disobedient long ago, in the days of Noach, when God waited patiently during the building of the ark, in which a few people — to be specific, eight — were delivered by means of water. ²¹ This also prefigures what delivers us now, the water of immersion, which is not the removal of dirt from the body, but one’s pledge to keep a good conscience toward God, through the resurrection of Yeshua the Messiah. ²² He has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God,^[t] with angels, authorities and powers subject to him.