CHAPTER 3

1 This second Epistle, beloved, I now write to you; in both which I stir up your pure mind by admonition,

2 That ye may remember the words which have been foretold by the holy Prophets and the commandment of us who are the apostles of the Lord and Savior;

3 Knowing this first, that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts,

4 And saying, "Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers have slept, all things remain as from the beginning of the creation."

5 For of this they are wilfully ignorant, that by the word of God the heavens were formerly, and the earth, subsisting by water and through water;

6 Through which the world, which then was, perished, being overflowed with water.

7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, are reserved by the word of the same, and are kept for fire against the day of judgment and of the perdition of the ungodly.

8 But of this one thing, beloved, be ye not ignorant, that one day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

9 The Lord does not delay as to his promise, as some count delay, but is patient towards us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens with a tempest shall pass away, and the elements shall melt with heat, and the earth and all its works shall be burnt up.

11 Since then all these things shall be dissolved, what ought we to be in all holy conduct and all godliness;

12 Waiting in haste for the coming of the day of God; on account of which the heavens being on fire, shall be dissolved, and the elements shall be consumed with heat.

13 But according to his promise we look for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.

14 Therefore, beloved, since ye look for these things, labor to be found by him in peace, unpolluted and blameless;

15 And regard the patience of our Lord as salvation, as also our beloved brother Paul has written to you according to the wisdom given to him; as also in all his Epistles, speaking of these things; in which there are some things hard to be understood, which the unlearned and the unstable pervert,

16 As also other scriptures, to their own ruin.

17 Do ye then, beloved, being forewarned, take heed, lest ye, being led away by the error of the wicked, should fall from your own steadfastness.

18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ: to him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.