2 Peter 1–3

Chapter 1

Growth in Christian Virtue

¹¹Simon Peter, a ^abond-servant and ^bapostle of Jesus Christ,

To those who have received ^ca faith of the same ²kind as ours, ³by ^dthe righteousness of ^eour God and Savior, Jesus Christ:

^2aGrace and peace be multiplied to you in ^bthe knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord;

³seeing that His ^adivine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true ^bknowledge of Him who ^ccalled us ¹by His own glory and ²excellence.

⁴¹For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent ^apromises, so that by them you may become ^bpartakers of the divine nature, having ^cescaped the ^dcorruption that is in ^ethe world by lust.

⁵Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith ^asupply ^bmoral ¹excellence, and in your moral excellence, ^cknowledge,

⁶and in your knowledge, ^aself-control, and in your self-control, ^bperseverance, and in your perseverance, ^cgodliness,

⁷and in your godliness, ^abrotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.

⁸For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor ^aunfruitful in the true ^bknowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁹For he who lacks these qualities is ^ablind or short-sighted, having forgotten his ^bpurification from his former sins.

¹⁰Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His ^acalling and ^bchoosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never ^cstumble;

¹¹for in this way the entrance into ^athe eternal kingdom of our ^bLord and Savior Jesus Christ will be ^cabundantly ^dsupplied to you.

¹²Therefore, ^aI will always be ready to remind you of these things, even though you already know them, and have been established in ^bthe truth which is present with you.

¹³I consider it ^aright, as long as I am in ^bthis earthly dwelling, to ^cstir you up by way of reminder,

¹⁴knowing that ^athe laying aside of my earthly dwelling is imminent, ^bas also our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me.

¹⁵And I will also be diligent that at any time after my ^adeparture you will be able to call these things to mind.

Eyewitnesses

¹⁶For we did not follow cleverly devised ^atales when we made known to you the ^bpower and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were ^ceyewitnesses of His majesty.

¹⁷For when He received honor and glory from God the Father, such an ^1autterance as this was ²made to Him by the ^bMajestic Glory, “This is My beloved Son with whom I am well-pleased”—

¹⁸and we ourselves heard this ¹utterance made from heaven when we were with Him on the ^aholy mountain.

¹⁹¹So we have ^athe prophetic word made more ^bsure, to which you do well to pay attention as to ^ca lamp shining in a dark place, until the ^dday dawns and the ^emorning star arises ^fin your hearts.

²⁰But ^aknow this first of all, that ^bno prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation,

²¹for ^ano prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men ^bmoved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.

Chapter 2

The Rise of False Prophets

¹But ^afalse prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be ^bfalse teachers ^camong you, who will ^dsecretly introduce ^edestructive heresies, even ^fdenying the ^gMaster who ^hbought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves.

²Many will follow their ^asensuality, and because of them ^bthe way of the truth will be ^cmaligned;

³and in their ^agreed they will ^bexploit you with ^cfalse words; ^dtheir judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.

⁴For ^aif God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and ^bcommitted them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment;

⁵and did not spare ^athe ancient world, but preserved ^bNoah, a ¹preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a ^cflood upon the world of the ungodly;

⁶and if He ^acondemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an ^bexample to those who would ^clive ungodly lives thereafter;

⁷and if He ^arescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the ^bsensual conduct of ^cunprincipled men

⁸(for by what he saw and heard that ^arighteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds),

^9athen the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from ¹temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the ^bday of judgment,

¹⁰and especially those who ^1aindulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and ^bdespise authority.

Daring, ^cself-willed, they do not tremble when they revile angelic ²majesties,

^11awhereas angels who are greater in might and power do not bring a reviling judgment against them before the Lord.

¹²But ^athese, like unreasoning animals, ^bborn as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, reviling where they have no knowledge, will in ¹the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed,

¹³suffering wrong as ^athe wages of doing wrong. They count it a pleasure to ^brevel in the ^cdaytime. They are stains and blemishes, reveling in their ¹deceptions, as they ^dcarouse with you,

¹⁴having eyes full of adultery that never cease from sin, ^aenticing ^bunstable souls, having a heart trained in ^cgreed, ^daccursed children;

¹⁵forsaking ^athe right way, they have gone astray, having followed ^bthe way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved ^cthe wages of unrighteousness;

¹⁶but he received a rebuke for his own transgression, ^afor a mute donkey, speaking with a voice of a man, restrained the madness of the prophet.

¹⁷These are ^asprings without water and mists driven by a storm, ^bfor whom the ¹black darkness has been reserved.

¹⁸For speaking out ^aarrogant words of ^bvanity they ^centice by fleshly desires, by ^dsensuality, those who barely ^eescape from the ones who live in error,

¹⁹promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for ^aby what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved.

²⁰For if, after they have ^aescaped the defilements of the world by ^bthe knowledge of the ^cLord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again ^dentangled in them and are overcome, ^ethe last state has become worse for them than the first.

^21aFor it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from ^bthe holy commandment ^chanded on to them.

²²¹It has happened to them according to the true proverb, “^aA dog returns to its own vomit,” and, “A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire.”

Chapter 3

Purpose of This Letter

¹This is now, ^abeloved, the second letter I am writing to you in which I am ^bstirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder,

²that you should ^aremember the words spoken beforehand by ^bthe holy prophets and ^cthe commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken by your apostles.

The Coming Day of the Lord

^3aKnow this first of all, that ^bin the last days ^cmockers will come with their mocking, ^dfollowing after their own lusts,

⁴and saying, “^aWhere is the promise of His ^bcoming? For ever since the fathers ^cfell asleep, all continues just as it was ^dfrom the beginning of creation.”

⁵For ¹when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that ^aby the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was ^bformed out of water and by water,

⁶through which ^athe world at that time was ^bdestroyed, being flooded with water.

⁷But by His word ^athe present heavens and earth are being reserved for ^bfire, kept for ^cthe day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.

⁸But do not let this one fact escape your notice, ^abeloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and ^ba thousand years like one day.

^9aThe Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but ^bis patient toward you, ^cnot wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.

A New Heaven and Earth

¹⁰But ^athe day of the Lord ^bwill come like a thief, in which ^cthe heavens ^dwill pass away with a roar and the ^eelements will be destroyed with intense heat, and ^fthe earth and ¹its works will be ²burned up.

¹¹Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness,

^12alooking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which ^bthe heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the ^celements will melt with intense heat!

¹³But according to His ^apromise we are looking for ^bnew heavens and a new earth, ^cin which righteousness dwells.

^14aTherefore, ^bbeloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be ^cfound by Him in peace, ^dspotless and blameless,

¹⁵and regard the ^apatience of our Lord as salvation; just as also ^bour beloved brother Paul, ^caccording to the wisdom given him, wrote to you,

¹⁶as also in all his letters, speaking in them of ^athese things, ^bin which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and ^cunstable distort, as they do also ^dthe rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.

¹⁷You therefore, ^abeloved, knowing this beforehand, ^bbe on your guard so that you are not carried away by ^cthe error of ^dunprincipled men and ^efall from your own steadfastness,

¹⁸but grow in the grace and ^aknowledge of our ^bLord and Savior Jesus Christ. ^cTo Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.