2 Peter 1–3

GREETING

1Simeon^A Peter,^a a servant and an apostle^b of Jesus Christ:

To those who have received a faith equal to ours through the righteousness^c of our God and Savior^d Jesus Christ.

²May grace and peace be multiplied to you through the knowledge of God^e and of Jesus our Lord.

GROWTH IN THE FAITH

³His^B divine power^f has given us everything required for life and godliness through the knowledge^g of him who called^h us by^C his own glory and goodness. ⁴By these he has given us very great and precious promises,ⁱ so that through them you may share in the divine nature,^j escaping the corruption that is in the world because of evil desire. ⁵For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with goodness, goodness with knowledge, ⁶knowledge with self-control,^k self-control with endurance, endurance with godliness, ⁷godliness with brotherly affection,^l and brotherly affection with love. ⁸For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being useless^m or unfruitfulⁿ in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹The person who lacks these things is blind and shortsighted and has forgotten the cleansing from his past sins. ¹⁰Therefore, brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election,^o because if you do these things you will never stumble. ¹¹For in this way, entry into the eternal kingdom^p of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be richly provided for you.

¹²Therefore I will always remind you about these things, even though you know them and are established in the truth^q you now have. ¹³I think it is right, as long as I am in this bodily tent,^r to wake you up with a reminder, ¹⁴since I know that I will soon lay aside my tent, as our Lord Jesus Christ has indeed made clear to me.^{s 15}And I will also make every effort so that you are able to recall these things at any time after my departure.^D

THE TRUSTWORTHY PROPHETIC WORD

¹⁶For we did not follow cleverly contrived myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ;^t instead, we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.^{u 17}For he received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying “This is my beloved Son,^E with whom I am well-pleased!”^{v 18}We ourselves heard this voice when it came from heaven while we were with him on the holy mountain.^{w 19}We also have the prophetic word strongly confirmed, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a lamp shining in a dark place,^x until the day dawns^y and the morning star^z rises in your hearts. ²⁰Above all, you know this: No prophecy of Scripture comes from the prophet’s own interpretation, ²¹because no prophecy ever came by the will of man;^aa instead, men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.^ab

THE JUDGMENT OF FALSE TEACHERS

2There were indeed false prophets^ac among the people, just as there will be false teachers^ad among you. They will bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought^ae them, and will bring swift destruction on themselves. ²Many will follow their depraved ways, and the way of truth will be maligned because of them.^{af 3}They will exploit^ag you in their greed^ah with made-up stories. Their condemnation,^ai pronounced long ago, is not idle, and their destruction does not sleep.

⁴For if God didn’t spare^aj the angels who sinned but cast them into hell^Aak and delivered them in chains^B of utter darkness to be kept for judgment;^{al 5}and if he didn’t spare the ancient world, but protected Noah,^am a preacher of righteousness, and seven others,^Can when he brought the flood on the world of the ungodly; ⁶and if he reduced the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah^a to ashes and condemned them to extinction,^D making them an example of what is coming to the ungodly;^{b 7}and if he rescued righteous Lot,^c distressed by the depraved behavior of the immoral ⁸(for as that righteous man lived among them day by day, his righteous soul was tormented by the lawless deeds he saw and heard^d)—⁹then the Lord knows how to rescue^e the godly from trials and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment,^{f 10}especially those who follow the polluting desires of the flesh and despise authority.^g

Bold, arrogant people! They are not afraid to slander the glorious ones; ¹¹however, angels, who are greater in might and power, do not bring a slanderous charge against them before the Lord.^{E 12}But these people, like irrational animals—creatures of instinct born to be caught and destroyed—slander what they do not understand, and in their destruction they too will be destroyed. ¹³They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done. They consider it a pleasure to carouse in broad daylight. They are spots and blemishes, delighting in their deceptions^F while they feast with you. ¹⁴They have eyes full of adultery^h that never stop looking for sin. They seduce unstable people and have hearts trained in greed. Children under a curse!^{i 15}They have gone astray by abandoning the straight path^j and have followed the path of Balaam,^k the son of Bosor,^G who loved the wages of wickedness^{l 16}but received a rebuke for his lawlessness: A speechless donkey spoke with a human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.^m

¹⁷These people are springs without water, mists driven by a storm. The gloom of darkness has been reserved for them.^{n 18}For by uttering boastful, empty words,^o they seduce, with fleshly desires and debauchery, people who have barely escaped^A from those who live in error. ¹⁹They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption, since people are enslaved to whatever defeats them.^{p 20}For if, having escaped the world’s impurity through the knowledge of the Lord^B and Savior Jesus Christ,^q they are again entangled in these things and defeated, the last state is worse for them than the first.^{r 21}For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness^s than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy command^t delivered^u to them.^{v 22}It has happened to them according to the true proverb: A dog returns to its own vomit,^Cw and, “A washed sow returns to wallowing in the mud.”

THE DAY OF THE LORD

3Dear friends, this is now the second letter^x I have written to you; in both letters, I want to stir up your sincere^y understanding by way of reminder, ²so that you recall the words previously spoken by the holy prophets and the command of our Lord and Savior given through your apostles. ³Above all, be aware of this: Scoffers will come in the last days^z scoffing and following their own evil desires, ⁴saying, “Where is his ‘coming’ that he promised?^aa Ever since our ancestors fell asleep,^ab all things continue as they have been since the beginning of creation.” ⁵They deliberately overlook this: By the word of God^ac the heavens came into being long ago and the earth was brought about from water and through water.^{ad 6}Through these the world of that time perished when it was flooded.^{ae 7}By the same word,^af the present heavens and earth are stored up for fire, being kept for the day of judgment^ag and destruction of the ungodly.

⁸Dear friends, don’t overlook this one fact: With the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.^{ah 9}The Lord does not delay his promise,^ai as some understand delay, but is patient with you, not wanting any^aj to perish^ak but all to come to repentance.^al

¹⁰But the day of the Lord^am will come like a thief;^Dan on that day the heavens will pass away^ao with a loud noise, the elements will burn and be dissolved,^ap and the earth and the works on it will be disclosed.^{EF 11}Since all these things are to be dissolved in this way, it is clear what sort of people you should be in holy conduct and godliness ¹²as you wait for the day of God and hasten its coming.^Gaq Because of that day, the heavens will be dissolved with fire and the elements will melt with heat. ¹³But based on his promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth,^a where righteousness dwells.^b

CONCLUSION

¹⁴Therefore, dear friends, while you wait for these things, make every effort to be found without spot or blemish in his sight, at peace.^{c 15}Also, regard the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our dear brother Paul has written to you according to the wisdom given to him.^{d 16}He speaks about these things in all his letters. There are some things hard to understand in them. The untaught and unstable will twist them to their own destruction,^e as they also do with the rest of the Scriptures.

¹⁷Therefore, dear friends, since you know this in advance, be on your guard,^f so that you are not led away by the error of lawless people and fall from your own stable position. ¹⁸But grow in the grace and knowledge^g of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity.^Ah