As you come to him, the living Stone — rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him — you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

For in Scripture it says:

“See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone,
and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”

Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,

“The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,”
and,
“A stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.”

They stumble because they disobey the message — which is also what they were destined for.

What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it,
a righteousness that is by faith; but the people of Israel, who pursued the law as the way of righteousness, have not attained their goal.

Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone.

As it is written:

“See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and the one who believes in him will never be put to shame.”