2 Peter, 3

1. My dear friends, this is the second letter I have written to you, trying to awaken in you by my reminders an unclouded understanding.

1. This is now the second letter that I have written to you, beloved, and in both of them I have aroused your sincere mind by way of reminder;

2. Remember what was said in the past by the holy prophets and the command of the Lord and Saviour given by your apostles.

2. that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles.

3. First of all, do not forget that in the final days there will come sarcastic scoffers whose life is ruled by their passions.

3. First of all you must understand this, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own passions

4. 'What has happened to the promise of his coming?' they will say, 'Since our Fathers died everything has gone on just as it has since the beginning of creation!'

4. and saying, "Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things have continued as they were from the beginning of creation."

5. They deliberately ignore the fact that long ago there were the heavens and the earth, formed out of water and through water by the Word of God,

5. They deliberately ignore this fact, that by the word of God heavens existed long ago, and an earth formed out of water and by means of water,

6. and that it was through these same factors that the world of those days was destroyed by the floodwaters.

6. through which the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished.

7. It is the same Word which is reserving the present heavens and earth for fire, keeping them till the Day of Judgement and of the destruction of sinners.

7. But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist have been stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.

8. But there is one thing, my dear friends, that you must never forget: that with the Lord, a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.

8. But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

9. The Lord is not being slow in carrying out his promises, as some people think he is; rather is he being patient with you, wanting nobody to be lost and everybody to be brought to repentance.

9. The Lord is not slow about his promise as some count slowness, but is forbearing toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

10. The Day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then with a roar the sky will vanish, the elements will catch fire and melt away, the earth and all that it contains will be burned up.

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 dissolved with fire, and the earth and the works that are upon it will be burned up.

11. Since everything is coming to an end like this, what holy and saintly lives you should be living

11. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of persons ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness,

12. while you wait for the Day of God to come, and try to hasten its coming: on that Day the sky will dissolve in flames and the elements melt in the heat.

12. waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be kindled and dissolved, and the elements will melt with fire!

13. What we are waiting for, relying on his promises, is the new heavens and new earth, where uprightness will be at home.

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

14. So then, my dear friends, while you are waiting, do your best to live blameless and unsullied lives so that he will find you at peace.

14. Therefore, beloved, since you wait for these, be zealous to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace.

15. Think of our Lord's patience as your opportunity to be saved; our brother Paul, who is so dear to us, told you this when he wrote to you with the wisdom that he was given.

15. And count the forbearance of our Lord as salvation. So also our beloved brother Paul wrote to you according to the wisdom given him,

16. He makes this point too in his letters as a whole wherever he touches on these things. In all his letters there are of course some passages which are hard to understand, and these are the ones that uneducated and unbalanced people distort, in the same way as they distort the rest of scripture--to their own destruction.

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 to their own destruction, as they do the other scriptures.

17. Since you have been forewarned about this, my dear friends, be careful that you do not come to the point of losing the firm ground that you are standing on, carried away by the errors of unprincipled people.

17. You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, beware lest you be carried away with the error of lawless men and lose your own stability.

18. Instead, continue to grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory, in time and eternity. Amen.

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.