2 Peter

Chapter 1

¹ Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have received the same precious faith with us, by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ. ² May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. ³ as his divine power has given to us all the things for life and godliness through the knowledge of the one who called us through his glory and excellence, ⁴ through which he has given to us precious and great promises, so that through them you might be sharers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world by lust. ⁵ And for this very reason, apply all diligence to supply in your faith, goodness; and in goodness, knowledge; ⁶ and in knowledge, self-control; and in self-control, endurance; and in endurance, godliness; ⁷ and in godliness, brotherly affection; and in brotherly affection, love. ⁸ For these things existing and increasing in you cause you to be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹ For he in whom these things are not present is blind, nearsighted, having experienced forgetfulness of the cleansing from his past sins. ¹⁰ Therefore, brothers, be even more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for doing these things, you may certainly not ever stumble. ¹¹ For in this way will be richly provided to you the entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

¹² Therefore I will always be ready to remind you about these things, although having known them and being established in the present truth. ¹³ But I think it is right, as long as I am in this tent, to stir you up in remembrance, ¹⁴ knowing that the putting off of my tent is imminent, just as also our Lord Jesus Christ revealed this to me. ¹⁵ But I will also always be dilligent to cause you to have the remembrance of these things after my departure. ¹⁶ For we have not followed cleverly invented myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we have become eyewitnesses of his majesty. ¹⁷ For he has received honor and glory from God the Father when such a voice was brought to him by the Majestic Glory: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” ¹⁸ And we ourselves heard this voice having been brought from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain. ¹⁹ And we have this more certain prophetic word, to which you do well to pay attention, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day may dawn and the morning star may rise in your hearts, ²⁰ knowing this first, that every prophecy of scripture does not come from one’s own interpretation. ²¹ For no prophecy was ever brought by the will of man, but men spoke from God being carried along by the Holy Spirit.

Chapter 2

¹ But false prophets also came to the people, as false teachers will also come to you. They will secretly bring destructive heresies, and denying the master who bought them, they are bringing swift destruction upon themselves. ² And many will follow their sensuality, through which the way of truth will be slandered. ³ And in their greed, they will exploit you with false words, whose condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction does not sleep. ⁴ For if God did not spare angels who had sinned, but delivered them to judgment, having been thrown down to Tartarus, being kept in chains of darkness; ^{[1] 5} and he did not spare the ancient world, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, along with seven others, having brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; ⁶ and having reduced the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes, he condemned them to destruction, having set an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; ⁷ and he rescued righteous Lot, being oppressed by the behavior of the lawless in their sensuality ⁸ (for that righteous man, by living among them day after day, seeing and hearing their lawless works, was tormenting his righteous soul); ⁹ the Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials, and to keep the unrighteous to be punished at the day of judgment, ¹⁰ but especially those who go after the flesh in its lusts of defilement, and despising authority. Arrogant, self-willed, they do not tremble while insulting the glorious ones; ¹¹ whereas angels, being greater in strength and power, do not bring insulting judgments against them in the presence of the Lord. ¹² But these, as unreasoning animals, having been born creatures of instinct for capture and destruction, speaking evil about that in which they are ignorant. They will also be destroyed in their destruction, ¹³ suffering harm as the wages of their wrongdoing, considering their reveling during the day as pleasure. They are stains and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions while they are feasting with you; ^{[2] 14} having eyes full of adultery, and never ceasing from sin, enticing unstable souls, having hearts trained in covetousness, cursed children; ¹⁵ abandoning the right way, led astray, having followed the way of Balaam son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness, ^{[3] 16} but he had a rebuke for his own transgression—a mute donkey speaking in a human voice restrained the madness of the prophet. ¹⁷ These men are springs without water and mists driven by a storm, for whom the gloom of darkness has been reserved. ¹⁸ For speaking arrogant things of vanity, they entice by the lusts of the flesh, by sensuality, those who are barely escaping from those who live in error, ¹⁹ promising freedom to them, while they themselves are slaves of corruption. For by what someone has been overcome, by this he has been enslaved. ²⁰ For if they have escaped the impurities of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, but having become entangled again, overcome by them, the last has become worse for them than the first. ²¹ For it was better for them not to know the way of righteousness than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment delivered to them. ²² This has happened to them according to the true proverb: “A dog returns to its own vomit, and a washed pig to wallowing in the mud.”

Chapter 3

¹ Beloved, this is now the second letter I am writing to you, in which I am stirring up your sincere mind in remembrance, ² to recall the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets and the command of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, ³ knowing this first, that mockers will come with mocking in the last days, behaving according to their own lusts, ⁴ and saying, “Where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue in the same way from the beginning of creation.” ⁵ For this is hidden from them willingly, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth had been formed from water and through water by the word of God, ⁶ through which the world at that time perished, having been flooded by water. ⁷ But the present heavens and the earth exist, having been reserved for fire by the same word, being kept for the day of judgment and the destruction of the ungodly men.

⁸ But let this one thing not escape your notice, beloved, that one day with the Lord is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day. ⁹ The Lord is not slow concerning his promises, as some consider slowness, but is patient toward you, not desiring for any to perish, but for all to move on to repentance. ¹⁰ But the day of the Lord will come as a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will be dissolved, being burned up, and the earth and the deeds in it will be revealed. ^{[1] 11} All of these things being thus dissolved, what sort of people is it necessary for you to be? In holy conduct and godliness, ¹² expecting and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens, being set on fire, will be destroyed, and the elements, being on fire, will be melted. ¹³ But according to his promise, we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.

¹⁴ Therefore, beloved, while waiting for these things, do your best to be found spotless and blameless before him, in peace. ¹⁵ And consider the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as also our beloved brother Paul wrote to you according to the wisdom having been given to him, ¹⁶ as also in all his letters, speaking in them about these things, in which are some difficult to understand things, which the ignorant and unstable distort, as also the other scriptures, to their own destruction. ¹⁷ You therefore, beloved, knowing beforehand, guard yourselves so that, being led astray by the deceit of the lawless, you might not lose your own steadfastness. ¹⁸ But grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and in that eternal day. Amen!