2 Peter
PETER
1 1Simon 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:
2 aGrace and peace be multiplied to you in bthe knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord;
3 seeing 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.
4 1For 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.
5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith asupply bmoral 1excellence, and in your moral excellence, cknowledge,
6 and in your knowledge, aself-control, and in your self-control, bperseverance, and in your perseverance, cgodliness,
7 and in your godliness, abrotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.
8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor aunfruitful in the true bknowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9 For he who lacks these qualities is ablind or short-sighted, having forgotten his bpurification from his former sins.
10 Therefore, 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;
11 for in this way the entrance into athe eternal kingdom of our bLord and Savior Jesus Christ will be cabundantly dsupplied to you.
12 Therefore, 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.
13 I consider it aright, as long as I am in bthis earthly dwelling, to cstir you up by way of reminder,
14 knowing that athe laying aside of my earthly dwelling is imminent, bas also our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me.
15 And I will also be diligent that at any time after my adeparture you will be able to call these things to mind.
16 For 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.
17 For 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”—
18 and we ourselves heard this 1utterance made from heaven when we were with Him on the aholy mountain.
19 1So 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.
20 But aknow this first of all, that bno prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation,
21 for ano prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men bmoved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.
1 But 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.
2 Many will follow their asensuality, and because of them bthe way of the truth will be cmaligned;
3 and in their agreed they will bexploit you with cfalse words; dtheir judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.
4 For aif God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and bcommitted them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment;
5 and 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;
6 and 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;
7 and 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),
9 athen the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from 1temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the bday of judgment,
10 and especially those who 1aindulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and bdespise authority.
Daring, cself-willed, they do not tremble when they brevile angelic 2majesties,
11 awhereas angels who are greater in might and power do not bring a reviling judgment against them before the Lord.
12 But 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,
13 suffering wrong as athe wages of doing wrong. They count it a pleasure to brevel in the cdaytime. They are stains and blemishes, breveling in their 1deceptions, as they dcarouse with you,
14 having eyes full of adultery that never cease from sin, aenticing bunstable souls, having a heart trained in cgreed, daccursed children;
15 forsaking athe right way, they have gone astray, having followed bthe way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved cthe wages of unrighteousness;
16 but 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.
17 These are asprings without water and mists driven by a storm, bfor whom the 1black darkness has been reserved.
18 For speaking out aarrogant words of bvanity they centice by fleshly desires, by dsensuality, those who barely eescape from the ones who live in error,
19 promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for aby what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved.
20 For 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.
21 aFor 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.
22 1It 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.”
1 This is now, abeloved, the second letter I am writing to you in which I am bstirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder,
2 that you should aremember the words spoken beforehand by bthe holy prophets and cthe commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken by your apostles.
3 aKnow this first of all, that bin the last days cmockers will come with their mocking, dfollowing after their own lusts,
4 and 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.”
5 For 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,
6 through which athe world at that time was bdestroyed, being flooded with water.
7 But by His word athe present heavens and earth are being reserved for bfire, kept for cthe day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.
8 But 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.
9 aThe 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.
10 But 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.
11 Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness,
12 alooking 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!
13 But according to His apromise we are looking for bnew heavens and a new earth, cin which righteousness dwells.
14 aTherefore, bbeloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be cfound by Him in peace, dspotless and blameless,
15 and regard the apatience of our Lord as salvation; just as also bour beloved brother Paul, caccording to the wisdom given him, wrote to you,
16 as 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.
17 You 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,
18 but 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.