11 [1]Simon Peter , a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ , To those who have received a faith of the same [2]kind as ours , [3]by the righteousness of our God and Savior , Jesus Christ : 2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord ;
3 seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness , through the true knowledge of Him who called us [4]by His own glory and [5]excellence . 4 [6]For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises , so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature , having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust .
5 Now for this very reason also , applying all diligence , in your faith supply moral [7]excellence , and in your moral excellence , knowledge , 6 and in your knowledge , self-control , and in your self-control , perseverance , and in your perseverance , godliness , 7 and in your godliness , brotherly kindness , and in your brotherly kindness , love . 8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing , they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ . 9 For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted , having forgotten e his purification from his former sins . 10 Therefore , brethren , be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things , you will never e e stumble ; 11 for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you.
12 Therefore , I will always be ready to remind you of these things , even though you already know them, and have been established in the truth which is present with you. 13 I consider it right , as long as I am in this earthly dwelling , to stir you up by way of reminder , 14 knowing that the laying aside of my earthly dwelling is imminent , as also our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. 15 And I will also be diligent that at any time after my departure you will be able to call these things to mind .
16 For we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ , but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty . 17 For when He received honor and glory from God the Father , such an [8] utterance as this was [9]made to Him by the Majestic Glory , "This is My beloved Son with whom I am well-pleased "- 18 and we ourselves heard this [10]utterance made from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain .
19 [11]So we have the prophetic word made more sure , to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place , until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts . 20 But know this first of all, that no e prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation , 21 for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will , but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God .
21 But false prophets also arose among the people , just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies , even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves . 2 Many will follow their sensuality , and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned ;
3 and in their greed they will exploit you with false words ; their judgment from long ago is not idle , and their destruction is not asleep . 4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned , but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness , reserved for judgment ; 5 and did not spare the ancient world , but preserved Noah , a preacher of righteousness , with seven others , when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly ; 6 and if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes , having made them an example to those who would live ungodly lives thereafter ;
7 and if He rescued righteous Lot , oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men 8 (for by what he saw and heard that righteous man , while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds ), 9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation , and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment ,
10 and especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise authority . Daring , self-willed , they do not tremble when they revile angelic majesties , 11 whereas angels who are greater in might and power do not bring a reviling judgment against them before the Lord . 12 But these , like unreasoning animals , born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed , reviling where e they have no knowledge , will in the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed , 13 suffering wrong as the wages of doing wrong . They count it a pleasure to revel in the daytime . They are stains and blemishes , reveling in their deceptions , as they carouse with you, 14 having eyes full of adultery that never cease from sin , enticing unstable souls , having a heart trained in greed , accursed children ; 15 forsaking the right way , they have gone astray , having followed the way of Balaam , the son of Beor , who loved the wages of unrighteousness ; 16 but he received a rebuke for his own transgression , for a mute donkey , speaking with a voice of a man , restrained the madness of the prophet . 17 These are springs without water and mists driven by a storm , for whom the black darkness has been reserved . 18 For speaking out arrogant words of vanity they entice by fleshly desires , by sensuality , those who barely escape from the ones who live in error , 19 promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption ; for by what a man is overcome , by this he is enslaved . 20 For if , after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ , they are again entangled in them and are overcome , the last state has become worse for them than the first . 21 For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness , than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment handed on to them. 22 It has happened to them according to the true proverb , " A DOG RETURNS TO ITS OWN VOMIT ," and, "A sow , after washing , returns to wallowing in the mire ."
31 This is now , beloved , the second letter I am writing to you in which I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder , 2 that you should remember the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken by your apostles .
3 Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking , following after their own lusts , 4 and saying , " Where is the promise of His coming ? For ever since e the fathers fell asleep , all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation ." 5 For when they maintain this , it escapes their notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water , 6 through which the world at that time was destroyed , being flooded with water . 7 But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire , kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men .
8 But do not let this one fact escape your notice , beloved , that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years , and a thousand years like one day .
9 The Lord is not slow about His promise , as some count slowness , but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance . 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief , in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat , and the earth and its works will be burned 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 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God , because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning , and the elements will melt with intense heat ! 13 But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth , in which righteousness dwells . 14 Therefore , beloved , since you look for these things , be diligent to be found by Him in peace , spotless and blameless , 15 and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation ; just as also our beloved brother Paul , according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, 16 as also in all his letters , speaking in them of these things , in which are some things hard to understand , which the untaught and unstable distort , as they do also the rest of the Scriptures , to their own destruction . 17 You therefore , beloved , knowing this beforehand , be on your guard so e that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness , 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 .
