1 Peter 2 - First Nations Version

GROWING UP SPIRITUALLY

¹ So turn away from hatred, lying, cheating, and any false face you have been wearing. Stop bad-mouthing others and being jealous.

² Like newborn babies who long for their mother’s milk, you should long for milk that is spiritually pure. This milk will help you grow strong in the one who sets you free and makes you whole.

³ For you have already tasted the goodness of our Honored Chief.

THE CHIEF LODGEPOLE

⁴ You are drawing near to the living Lodgepole, the Chosen One who was rejected by human beings but highly honored in the eyes of the Great Spirit.

⁵ You are also like living wooden poles whose branches are being woven together into a spiritual and sacred lodge. In this spiritual lodge, as holy men and women, you will send up spiritual offerings that will be like sweet-smelling smoke to the Great Spirit through Creator Sets Free (Jesus) the Chosen One.

⁶ For it stands true in our Sacred Teachings, “Behold, in Strong Mountain (Zion) I am setting in place the Chief Lodgepole that I have chosen, one that is highly honored. The hearts of all who trust in him will never fall to the ground.”

⁷ He is highly honored by all who trust in him. But for those who fail to put their trust in him, “The tree the lodge builders threw away has become the Chief Lodgepole.

⁸ He is a tree pole that many will trip over, a wooden pole that will make them stumble.” They stumble because they do not do what Creator’s message requires them to do. This is what was decided ahead of time for all who do not trust his message.

CREATOR’S CHOSEN PEOPLE

⁹ But you who trust in Creator Sets Free (Jesus) are a chosen people. You are a family of chiefs who serve as holy men and women. You are a sacred nation, a people who belong to the Great Spirit alone. You are the ones who will show forth the beautiful ways of the one who called you out of darkness and brought you into his wondrous light.

¹⁰ You are now the people of the Great Spirit, even though at one time you were not known in this way. In the past you had not known mercy, but now you have found it.

WALK IN A GOOD WAY

¹¹ So then, my much-loved ones, you who are strangers and outsiders to the ways of this world, I speak to you now with strong words. Stay far away from the weak and broken desires within you that make war against who you are.

¹² Walk in a good way among those who are outsiders to our spiritual ways. In this way, even though they falsely accuse you of wrongdoing, when they see the good you have done they will give honor to the Great Spirit on the day he comes to visit us.

COMING UNDER HUMAN AUTHORITIES

¹³ On behalf of our Honored Chief, I call on you to come under all human governments. This includes the Ruler of the People of Iron (Caesar), as the highest authority,

¹⁴ and all who represent him. They have been sent to punish wrongdoers and honor those who do what is right.

¹⁵ Creator wants you to walk in his right ways so that the ignorant and foolish will have nothing to say against you.

¹⁶ Do this as a people who have been set free, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil ways. Instead, walk out your freedom as willing servants of the Great Spirit.

¹⁷ Show respect to all people. Love the members of our sacred family. Treat Creator with great respect, and show honor to the Ruler of the People of Iron (Caesar).

INSTRUCTIONS FOR HOUSEHOLD SERVANTS

¹⁸ Household servants, I call on you to respectfully come under the master of the house. Serve with respect not only masters who are good and kind, but also the ones who treat you in a bad way.

¹⁹ For the gift of great kindness rests on the ones who, out of respect for the Great Spirit, patiently suffer even when they have done nothing wrong.

²⁰ There is no honor in suffering for wrongs you have done. But if you suffer with patience for doing what is right, then Creator will look on you with great kindness.

THE PATH OF SUFFERING

²¹ Suffering in this way is part of what you have been called to do. It was for you that the Chosen One walked a path of suffering, showing you the way to follow in his footsteps.

²² Our Sacred Teachings tell us, “He did nothing wrong and never spoke with a forked tongue.”

²³ He did not return insult for insult. When he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he kept looking to the one who is always right when he decides who has done right or who has done wrong.

²⁴ He took on himself our broken ways when he hung on a tree-pole—the cross. He did this so we could die to our broken ways and come alive to his right ways. By his wounds we have been made whole.

²⁵ At one time you were like sheep wandering away, but you have now returned to the one who watches over you like a shepherd who watches over the sheep.