2 Peter 2–3

The Rise and Fall of the False Teachers

2But there were also false prophets among the people, as there will be false teachers among you also, who will bring in destructive heresies^a, even denying the Master who bought them, thus^* bringing on themselves swift destruction. ²And many will follow their licentious ways, because of whom the way of truth will be reviled. ³And in greediness they will exploit you with false words, whose condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.

⁴For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but held them captive in Tartarus with chains of darkness and handed them over to be kept for judgment, ⁵and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a proclaimer of righteousness, and seven others^b when he^* brought a flood on the world of the ungodly, ⁶and condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction, reducing them to ashes, having appointed them as an example for those who are going to be ungodly, ⁷and rescued righteous Lot, worn down by the way of life of lawless persons in licentiousness ⁸(for that righteous man, as he^* lived among them day after day, was tormenting his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he was seeing and hearing), ⁹then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to reserve the unrighteous to be punished at^c the day of judgment, ¹⁰and especially those who go after the flesh in defiling lust^d and who despise authority.

Bold and arrogant, they do not tremble in awe as they^* blaspheme majestic beings, ¹¹whereas angels, who are greater in strength and power, do not bring against them a demeaning judgment.^{e 12}But these persons, like irrational animals born only with natural instincts for capture and killing, blaspheming about things^f they do not understand, in their destruction will also be destroyed, ¹³being harmed as the wages of unrighteousness. Considering reveling in the daytime a pleasure, they are stains and blemishes, carousing in their deceitful pleasures when they^* feast together with you, ¹⁴having eyes full of desire for an adulteress and unceasing from sin, enticing unstable persons, and^* having hearts trained for greediness. Accursed children! ¹⁵By^* leaving the straight path, they have gone astray, because they^* followed the way of Balaam the son of Bosor,^g who loved the wages of unrighteousness, ¹⁶but received a rebuke for his own lawlessness: a speechless donkey, speaking with a human voice, restrained the prophet’s madness^h.

¹⁷These people are waterless springs and mists driven by a hurricane, for whom the gloom of darkness has been reserved. ¹⁸For by speaking high-sounding but empty wordsⁱ, they entice with desires of the flesh and with licentiousness those who are scarcely escaping from those who live in error, ¹⁹promising them freedom although they^* themselves are slaves of depravity. For to whatever someone succumbs, by this he is also^j enslaved. ²⁰For if, after they^* have escaped from the defilements of the world through the knowledge of the Lord^k and Savior Jesus Christ, and they are again entangled in these things and succumb to them, the last state has become worse for them than the first. ²¹For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than having known it, to turn back from the holy commandment that had been delivered to them. ²²The statement of the true proverb has happened to them, “A dog returns to its own vomit,”^l and “A sow, after^* washing herself, returns^* to wallowing in the mud.”^m

The Coming Day of the Lord

3Dear friends, this is already the second letter I am writing to you, in both of which I am attempting to stir up your sincere mind by a reminder, ²to remember the words proclaimed beforehand by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, ³above all knowing this, that in the last days scoffers will come with scoffing, following according to their own desires ⁴and saying, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since^a the fathers fell asleep, all things have continued just as they have been from the beginning of creation.” ⁵For when^* they maintain this, it escapes their notice that the heavens existed long ago and the earth held together out of water and through water by the word of God, ⁶by means of which things the world that existed at that time was destroyed by^* being inundated with water. ⁷But by the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly people.

⁸Now, dear friends, do not let this one thing escape your notice, that one day with the Lord is like a thousand years, and a thousand years is like one day. ⁹The Lord is not delaying the promise, as some consider slowness, but is being patient toward you, because he^* does not want any to perish, but all to come to repentance. ¹⁰But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will disappear with a rushing noise, and the celestial bodies will be destroyed by^* being burned up, and the earth and the deeds done on it will be disclosed. ¹¹Because^* all these things are being destroyed in this way, what sort of people must you be in holy behavior and godliness, ¹²while^* waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by^* being burned up and the celestial bodies will melt as they^* are consumed by heat! ¹³But according to his promise, we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness resides.

Final Exhortations and Conclusion

¹⁴Therefore, dear friends, because you^* are waiting for these things, make every effort to be found at peace, spotless and unblemished in him. ¹⁵And regard the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as also our dear brother Paul wrote to you, according to the wisdom that was given to him, ¹⁶as he does also in all his^*b letters, speaking in them about these things, in which there are some things hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable distort to their own destruction, as they also do the rest of the scriptures. ¹⁷Therefore, dear friends, because you^* know this beforehand, guard yourselves so that you do not lose your own safe position because you^* have been led away by the error of lawless persons. ¹⁸But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.