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Therefore put away all wickedness, and all deceit, and hypocrisy, and envy, and every form of evil speaking.
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Like newborn children, desire the pure milk of the Word, so that through it you may grow into deliverance,
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if indeed you have tasted that Yahuah is good.
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Coming to him— a living stone, rejected by Adam, but chosen and precious before Elohim—
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you yourselves also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual House, a holy kehunah, to offer spiritual offerings acceptable to Elohim through Yahushua the Anointed.
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For it stands in the writing: “See— I lay in Tziyon a chosen stone, a precious cornerstone, and whoever trusts in him shall certainly not be put to shame.”
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Therefore to you who trust, he is precious. But to those who do not trust: “The stone which the builders rejected— this became the chief cornerstone,”
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and: “A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.” They stumble because they disobey the Word, to which also they were appointed.
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But you are a chosen people, a royal kehunah, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, so that you may proclaim the mighty works of the One who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.
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Once you were not a people, but now you are the People of Elohim. Once you had not received compassion, but now you have received compassion.
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Beloved ones, I urge you as sojourners and foreigners to abstain from fleshly desires which wage war against the being.
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Keep your conduct among the nations good, so that in the things in which they speak against you as evildoers, they may, from seeing your good works, glorify Elohim in the day of visitation.
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Submit yourselves to every human authority because of the Master— whether to a king as one holding high rule,
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or to governors as those sent through him for punishment of evildoers and praise of those doing good.
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For this is the will of Elohim: that by doing good you may silence the ignorance of foolish Adam.
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Live as free ones, yet not using freedom as a covering for wickedness, but as servants of Elohim.
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Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear Elohim. Honor the king.
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Household servants, submit yourselves to your masters with all reverence— not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh.
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For this is favor: if someone, because of awareness before Elohim, endures grief while suffering unjustly.
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For what honor is there if, when you sin and are beaten, you endure it? But if, while doing good, you suffer and endure, this is favor before Elohim.
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For to this you were called, because the Anointed also suffered for you, leaving you an example so that you may follow in his steps.
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“He committed no sin, and deceit was not found in his mouth.”
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When he was insulted, he did not return insult. When suffering, he did not threaten, but entrusted himself to the One who judges with Righteousness.
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He himself carried our sins in his body upon the wood, so that, having died to sins, we might live to Righteousness. By his wounds you were restored.
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For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your beings.