8. and,"A stone that causes people to stumbleand a rock that makes them fall." They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for.
9. But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
10. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.