4To whom you are coming, a living stone rejected indeed by humans but chosen and valued by God.5And you yourselves, like living stones, are being built a spiritual house into a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.6Because it stands written in scripture: Behold, I am laying in Zion a chosen, valued cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.7Therefore the honor belongs to you who believe; but for those who disbelieve, the stone that the builders rejected has become the head of the corner.8And a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense for those who disobey the word and stumble over it, to which they were also appointed.9But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.10Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.11Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the fleshly desires that wage war against the soul.12Keep your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may observe your good works and glorify God on the day of oversight.