bible in basic english - new testament - 1 peter

7/29/2019 Bible in Basic English - New Testament - 1 Peter

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T H E F I R S T E P I S T L E G E N E R A L O F

P E T E R

CHAPTER 11 Peter, an Apostle of Jesus Christ,

to the saints who are living in Pon-tus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, andBithynia,2 Who, through the purpose of God,

have been made holy by the Spirit,disciples of Jesus, made clean by hisb loo d: May yo u h av e gr ac e an dpeace in full measure.3 Praise be to the God and Father

of our Lord Jesus Christ, whothrough his great mercy has given usa new birth and a living hope by thecoming again of Jesus Christ fromthe dead,4 And a heritage fair, holy and for

ever new, waiting in heaven for you,5 Who, by the power of God are

kept, through fai th, for that salva-t ion, which will be seen at the lastday.

6 You have cause for great joy inthis, though it may have been neces-sary for you to be troubled for a lit-tle time, being tested in all sorts ofways,7 So that the t rue meta l of your

faith, being of much greater valuethan gold (which, though it comes toan end, is tested by fire), may cometo light in praise and glory and hon-our, a t the revelation of Jesus

Christ:8 To whom your love i s g iven ,

though you have not seen him; andthe fai th which you have in h im,though you do not see h im now,gives you joy greater than words andfull of glory:9 For so you have the true end of

your f ai th , even the salva tion o fyour souls.10 For the prophets who gave the

news of the grace which would cometo you, made search with all care forknowledge of this salvation;11 Attempting to see what sort of

time the Spirit of Christ which wasin them was point ing to, when i tgave witness to the pains whichChrist would undergo and the glo-

ries which would come after them.12 And it was made clear to those

prophets that they were Gods ser-vants not for themselves but for you,to give you word of the things whichhave now come to your ears f romt he p rea ch er s o f t he g ood n ewsthrough the Holy Spirit sent downfrom heaven; things which even an-gels have a desire to see.13 So make your minds ready, and

keep on the watch, hoping with al lyour power for the grace which is tocome to you at the revelation of Je-sus Christ;14 Like children ruled by God, do

not go back to the old desires of thetime when you were without knowl-edge:15 But be holy in every deta i l of

your l ives, as he, whose servantsyou are, is holy;16

Because i t has been said in theWrit ings, You are to be holy, for Iam hol y.17 And if you give the name of Fa-

ther to him who, judging every manby h is act s, has no respect for amans position, then go in fear whileyou are on this earth:

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18 Being conscious that you havebeen made f ree f rom that foolishway of life which was your heritagef rom your f athe rs , not through apayment of things like silver or gold

which come to destruction,19 But through holy blood, like that

of a clean and unmarked lamb, eventhe blood of Christ:20 Who was marked out by God be-

fore the making of the wor ld , butwas caused to be seen in these lasttimes for you,21 Who through him have fai th in

God who took him up again from thedead into glory; so that your fai th

and hope might be in God.22 And a s yo u h av e mad e yo ursouls clean, being ruled by what istrue, and loving one another withoutdeceit , see that your love is warmand from the heart:23 Because you have had a new

birth, not from the seed of man, butfrom eternal seed, through the wordof a living and unchanging God.24 For i t is said, All f lesh is l ike

g ras s, an d al l it s gl or y li ke t hef lower of the grass . The grass be-comes dry and the flower dead:25 But the word of the Lord is eter-

nal. And this is the word of the goodnews which was given to you.

CHAPTER 21 So putting away all wrongdoing,

and all tricks and deceits and enviesand evil talk,2 Be full of desire for the true milk

of the word, as babies at their moth-ers breasts, so that you may go onto salvation;3 I f you have had a t as te o f the

grace of the Lord:4 To whom you come, as to a living

stone, not honoured by men, but of

great and special value to God;5 You, as l iving stones, are being

made into a house of the spi ri t , aholy order of priests, making thoseoffer ings o f the spi ri t which a re

ple as ing to God through JesusChrist.6 Because it is said in the Writings,

S ee , I am pl ac in g a k eys ton e i nZion, of great and special value; andthe man who has fa i th in h im wil lnot be put to shame.7 And the value i s for you who

have fa i th ; but i t i s sa id for thosewithout faith, The very stone whichthe bui lders put on one s ide, was

made the chief stone of the building;8 And, A stone of falling, a rock oft roub le ; the word i s the cause o ftheir fall, because they go against it,and this was the purpose of God.9 But you are a special people, a

holy nat ion, p ri es ts and k ings , apeople given up completely to God,s o t ha t yo u may make c le ar t hevirtues of him who took you out ofthe dark into the light of heaven.10 In the past you were not a peo-

ple, but now you are the people ofGod; then there was no mercy foryou, but now mercy has been givento you.11 My loved ones, I make this re-

quest with a ll my hea rt , tha t, a sthose for who m this world is astrange country, you will keep your-selves from the desires of the fleshwhich make war against the soul;12 Being of good behaviour among

the Gentiles; so that though they saynow that you are evi l-doers , theymay see your good works and giveglory to God when he comes to betheir judge.13 Keep a ll the l aws o f men be-

cause of the Lord; those of the king,

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who is over all,14 And those of the rulers who are

sent by him for the punishment ofe vi l- doe rs a nd f or t he pr ai se ofthose who do well.15

Because it is Gods pleasure thatfoolish and narrow-minded men maybe put to shame by your good be-haviour:16 As those who are free, not using

your f ree pos it ion as a cover forwrongdoing, but l iving as the ser-vants of God;17 Have respect for all, loving the

brothers, fearing God, honouring theking.18

Servants, take orders from yourmasters with all respect; not only ifthey are good and gentle, but even ifthey are bad-humoured.19 For it is a sign of grace if a man,

desir ing to do r ight in the eyes ofGod, undergoes pain as punishmentf or so me th ing whi ch he h as n otdone.20 What credi t i s i t i f , when you

have done evil , you take your pun-i sh men t q uie tl y? b ut i f yo u a regiven punishment for doing r ight ,and take it quietly, this is pleasingto God.21 This is Gods purpose for you:

because Jesus h imself underwentpunishment for you, giving you anexample, so that you might go in hisfootsteps:22 Who did no evil, and there was

no deceit in his mouth:23 To sharp words he gave no sharp

answer ; when he was undergoingpain, no angry word came from hisl ips; but he put h imse lf into thehands of the judge of righteousness:24 He took our s ins on h imse lf ,

giving his body to be nailed on thetree, so that we, being dead to sin,

might have a new life in righteous-ness , and by h is wounds we havebeen made well.25 Because , l ike sheep, you had

gone out of the way; but now you

have come back to him who keepswatch over your souls.

CHAPTER 31 Wives, be ruled by your hus -

bands; so that even if some of themgive no attention to the word, theirhearts may be changed by the behav-iour of their wives,2 When they see your holy behav-

iour in the fear of God.3

Do not l et your o rnaments bethose of the body such as dressingof the hair , or putt ing on of jewelsof gold or fair clothing;4 But let them be those of the un-

seen man of the heart, the ever-shin-ing ornament of a gentle and quietspirit, which is of great price in theeyes of God.5 And these were the ornaments of

the holy women of the past , whosehope was in God , being ruled bytheir husbands:6 As Sarah was ruled by Abraham,

naming him lord; whose chi ldrenyou are if you do well , and are notput in fear by an y danger.7 And you husbands, give thought

to your way of life with your wives,giving honour to the woman who isthe feebler vessel , but who has anequal par t in the her it age o f thegrace of life; so that you may not bekept from prayer.8 Last of all, see that you are all in

agreement; feeling for one another,loving one another l ike brothers,full of pity, without pride:9 Not giving back evil for evil , or

curse for curse, but in place of curs-

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ing , b less ing; because this i s thepurpose o f God for you tha t youmay have a heritage of blessing.10 For i t is said, Let the man who

has a love of l ife, des ir ing to see

good days , keep h is tongue f romevil and his l ips from words of de-ceit:11 And let him be turned from evil

and do good; searching for peaceand going after it with all his heart.12 For the eyes of the Lord are on

the upright, and his ears are open totheir prayers : but the face of theLord is against those who do evil.13 Who will do you any damage if

you keep your minds fixed on whatis good?14 But you are happy i f you un-

dergo pain because of righteousness;have no part in their fear and do notbe troubled;15 But g ive honour to Chr is t in

your hea rt s a s your Lord; and ber ead y a t a ny t ime when yo u ar equestioned about the hope which isin you, to give an answer in the fearof the Lord and without pride;16 Being conscious that you have

done no wrong; so tha t those whosay evil things about your good wayof l ife as Christ ians may be put toshame.17 Because if i t is Gods purpose

for you to undergo pain, it is betterto do so for wel l-do ing than forevil-doing.18 B ecause C hrist once w ent

through pain for s ins, the upr ightone taking the place of sinners, sotha t through h im we might comeback to God; being put to death inthe flesh, but given life in theSpirit;19 By whom he went to the spirits

in prison, preaching to those

20 Who, in the days of Noah, wentagainst Gods orders; but God in hismercy kept back the punishment,whi le Noah got r eady the a rk , inwhich a small number, that is to say

eight persons, got salvation throughwater:21 And baptism, of which this is an

image, now gives you salvation, notby washing clean the f lesh, but bymaking you free from the sense ofsin before God, through the comingagain of Jesus Christ from the dead;22 Who has gone into heaven, and

is at the r ight hand of God, angelsand authori t ies and powers having

been put under his rule.

CHAPTER 41 So that as Jesus was put to death

in the flesh, do you yourselves be ofthe same mind; for the death of theflesh puts an end to sin;2 So that you may give the rest of

your lives in the flesh, not to the de-sires of men, but to the purpose ofGod.3 Because for long enough, in times

past , we have been l iving after theway of the Gentiles, given up to thedesires of the flesh, to drinking andfeasting and loose behaviour and un-clean worship of images;4 And they are wondering that you

no longer go with them in this vio-lent wasting of life, and are sayingevil things of you:5 But they will have to give an ac-

count of themselves to him who isready to be the judge of the l ivingand the dead.6 For this was the reason why the

good news of Jesus was given evento the dead, so tha t they might bejudged as me n in the flesh, butmight be l iv ing before God in the

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spirit.7 But the end of all things is near:

so be serious in your behaviour andkeep on the watch with prayer;8 And most of all be warm in your

love for one ano ther ; because inlove there is forgiveness for s inswithout number:9 Keep open house for a l l wi th a

glad heart;10 Making distribution among one

another of whatever has been givento you, like true servants of the un-measured grace of God;11 If anyone has anything to say,

let it be as the words of God; if any-

one has the desire to be the servantof others, let him do it in thestrength which is given by God; sothat in all things God may have theglory through Jesus Christ, whoseare the glory and the power for ever.12 Dear brothers, do not be sur-

prised, as if it was somethingstrange, if your faith is tested as byfire:13 But be glad that you are given a

part in the pains of Christ; so that atthe revelation of his glory you mayhave great joy.14 If men say evil things of you be-

cause of the name of Christ , happyare you; for the Spiri t of glory andof God is resting on you.15 Let no one among you undergo

punishment as a taker of life, or as athief , or as an evil-doer, or as onewho i s o ve r- int er es te d i n ot he rmens business;16 But if he undergoes punishment

as a Christ ian, that is no shame tohim; le t h im give g lory to God inthis name.17 For the t ime has come for the

jud ging , sta rting with the ch urch ofGod; but if it makes a start with us,

what wi l l be the end of those whoare not under the rule of God?18 And i f i t i s ha rd fo r even the

good man to get salva tion , wha tchance has the man without religion

or the sinner?19 For this reason let those who by

the purpose of God undergo punish-ment, keep on in well-doing and putthe i r souls into the safe hands oftheir M aker.

CHAPTER 51 I who am myself one of the rulers

of the church, and a witness of thedeath of Christ , having my part in

the coming glory, send this seriousrequest to the chief men among you:2 Keep watch over the flock of God

which is in your care, using your au-thori ty, not as forced to do so, butgladly; and not for unclean profi tbut with a ready mind;3 Not as lords over Gods heritage,

but making yourselves examples tothe flock.4 And a t the coming of the chief

Keeper o f the sheep , you wil l begiven the eternal crown of glory.5 And i n th e s ame way, l et t he

younger men be ruled by the olderones. Let all of you put away prideand make yourselves ready to beservants: for God is a hater of pride,but he g ives g race to those whomake themselves low.6 For this cause make yourselves

low under the strong hand of God,so tha t when the t ime comes youmay be lifted up;7 Putting all your troubles on him,

for he takes care of you.8 Be serious and keep watch; the

Evil One, who is against you, goesabout like a lion with open mouth insearch of food;

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9 Do not g ive way to h im but bestrong in your fai th, in the knowl-edge that your brothers who are inthe world undergo the same t rou-bles.10

And after you have undergonepain for a little time, the God of allgrace who has g iven you a par t inhis eternal glory through Christ Je-sus, wil l himself give you strengthand support, and make you completein every good thing;11 His is the power for ever. So be

it.12 I have sent you this short letter

by Silvanus, a true brother, in my

opinion; comfort ing you and wi t -nessing that this is the true grace ofGod; keep to it.13 She who is in Babylon, who has

a par t wi th you in the purpose ofGod , sends you her love; and sodoes my son Mark.14 Give one ano ther the k is s o f

love. Peace be to you all in Christ.

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bible in basic english - new testament - 1 peter

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