2 Peter 3:1–18

The Day of the Lord Will Come

3This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them ^gI am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, ^2hthat you should remember the predictions of ⁱthe holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, ³knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come ^jin the last days with scoffing, ^kfollowing their own sinful desires. ^4lThey will say, “Where is the promise of ^mhis coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” ⁵For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth ⁿwas formed out of water and through water ^oby the word of God, ⁶and that by means of these the world that then existed ^pwas deluged with water and ^qperished. ⁷But by the same word ^rthe heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and ^sdestruction of the ungodly.

⁸But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and ^ta thousand years as one day. ^9uThe Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise ^vas some count slowness, but ^wis patient toward you,^{1 x}not wishing that any should perish, but ^ythat all should reach repentance. ¹⁰But ^zthe day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then ^athe heavens will pass away with a roar, and ^bthe heavenly bodies² will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.³

¹¹Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, ^cwhat sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, ^12dwaiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and ^ethe heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! ¹³But according to his promise we are waiting for ^fnew heavens and a new earth ^gin which righteousness dwells.

Final Words

^14hTherefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him ⁱwithout spot or ^jblemish, and ^kat peace. ¹⁵And count ^lthe patience of our Lord as salvation, just as ^mour beloved brother Paul also wrote to you ⁿaccording to the wisdom given him, ¹⁶as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. ^oThere are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, ^pas they do the other Scriptures. ¹⁷You therefore, beloved, ^qknowing this beforehand, ^rtake care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. ¹⁸But ^sgrow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. ^tTo him be the glory both now and to the day of ^ueternity. Amen.