2 Peter 3
1 This [is] now, beloved, a second letter I write to you, in both which I stir up your pure mind in reminding [you]
This, dear friends, is my second letter to you. In both of them I have tried, by appealing to your remembrance, to arouse your better feelings.
2 to be mindful of the sayings said before by the holy prophets, and of the command of us the apostles of the LORD and Savior,
I want you to recall what was foretold by the holy prophets, as well as the command of our Lord and Saviour given to you through your apostles.
3 knowing this first, that there will come scoffers in the last days, going on according to their own desires,
First be assured of this, that, as the age draws to an end, scoffers, led by their own passions,
4 and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things so remain from the beginning of the creation”;
will come and ask scoffingly – “Where is his promised coming? Ever since our ancestors passed to their rest, everything remains just as it was when the world was first created!”
5 for this they willingly conceal, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth having been established by the word of God out of water and through water,
For they wilfully shut their eyes to the fact that long ago the heavens existed; and the earth, also – formed out of water and by the action of water, by the fiat of God;
6 through which the world then, having been flooded by water, was destroyed;
and that by the same means the world which then existed was destroyed in a deluge of water.
7 and by the same word, the present heavens and earth, having been stored up for fire, are being preserved until [the] day of judgment and destruction of impious men.
But the present heavens and earth, by the same fiat, have been reserved for fire, and are being kept for the day of the judgment and destruction of the godless.
8 And do not let this one thing be concealed from you, beloved, that one day with the LORD [is] as one thousand years and one thousand years as one day;
But you, dear friends, must never shut your eyes to the fact that, to the Lord, one day is the same as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
9 the LORD is not slow in regard to the promise, as some count slowness, but is long-suffering to us, not intending any to be lost, but all to come to conversion,
The Lord is not slow to fulfil his promise, as some count slowness; but he is forbearing with you, as it is not his will that any of you should perish, but that all should be brought to repentance.
10 and it will come—the Day of the LORD—as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a rushing noise, and the elements will be dissolved with burning heat, and [the] earth and the works in it will not be found.
The day of the Lord will come like a thief; and on that day the heavens will pass away with a crash, the elements will be burnt up and dissolved, and the earth and all that is in it will be disclosed.
11 All these, then, being dissolved, what kind of persons ought you to be in holy behaviors and pious acts,
Now, since all these things are in the process of dissolution, think what you yourselves ought to be – what holy and pious lives you ought to lead,
12 waiting for and hurrying the coming of the Day of God, by which the heavens, being on fire, will be dissolved, and the elements will melt with burning heat?
while you wait for the coming of the day of God and strive to make it come soon. At its coming the heavens will be dissolved in fire, and the elements melted by heat,
13 And we wait for new heavens and a new earth according to His promise, in which righteousness dwells;
but we look for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness will have its home, in fulfilment of the promise of God.
14 for this reason, beloved, waiting for these things, be diligent, spotless and unblameable, to be found by Him in peace,
Therefore, dear friends, in expectation of these things, make every effort to be found by him spotless, blameless, and at peace.
15 and count the long-suffering of our Lord [as] salvation, according as also our beloved brother Paul—according to the wisdom given to him—wrote to you,
Regard our Lord’s forbearance as your one hope of salvation. This is what our dear friend Paul wrote to you, with the wisdom that God gave him.
16 as also in all the letters, speaking in them concerning these things, among which are some things [that are] hard to be understood, which the untaught and unstable twist, as also the other Writings, to their own destruction.
It is the same in all his letters, when he speaks in them about these subjects. There are some things in them difficult to understand, which untaught and weak people distort, just as they do all other writings, to their own ruin.
17 You, then, beloved, knowing before, take heed, lest, together with the error of the impious being led away, you may fall from your own steadfastness,
You must, therefore, dear friends, now that you know this beforehand, be on your guard against being led away by the errors of reckless people, and so lapsing from your present steadfastness;
The World is Destroyed by Water
