2 Peter 3

The Promise of the Lord’s Coming

³This is now, beloved, the second letter I am writing to you; in them I am trying to arouse your sincere intention by reminding you ²that you should remember the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken through your apostles. ³First of all you must understand this, that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and indulging their own lusts^{* 4}and saying, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since our ancestors died,^v all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation!”^{* 5}They deliberately ignore this fact, that by the word of God heavens existed long ago and an earth was formed out of water and by means of water,^{* 6}through which the world of that time was deluged with water and perished.^{* 7}But by the same word the present heavens and earth have been reserved for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the godless.^*

⁸But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day.^{* 9}The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you,^w not wanting any to perish but all to come to repentance.^{* 10}But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will be destroyed with fire, and the earth and everything that is done on it will be disclosed.^x*

¹¹Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of persons ought you to be in leading lives of holiness and godliness, ¹²waiting for and hastening^y the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set ablaze and destroyed and the elements will melt with fire? ¹³But, in accordance with his promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at home.^*

Final Exhortation and Doxology

¹⁴Therefore, beloved, while you are waiting for these things, strive to be found by him at peace, without spot or blemish,^{* 15}and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation. So also our beloved brother Paul wrote to you according to the wisdom given him,^{* 16}speaking of this as he does in all his letters. There are some things in them hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist^z to their own destruction, as they do the other scriptures. ¹⁷You therefore, beloved, since you are forewarned, beware that you are not carried away with the error of the lawless and lose your own stability.^{* 18}But 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.^a