2 Peter 3
1 This is now, beloved, the second epistle that I write unto you; and in both of
them I stir up your sincere mind by putting you in remembrance;
2 that ye should remember the words which were spoken before by the holy
prophets, and the commandments of the Lord and Saviour through your apostles:
3 knowing this first, that in the last days mockers shall come with mockery,
walking after their own lusts,
4 and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for, from the day that the
fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the
creation.
5 For this they willfully forget, that there were heavens from of old, and an
earth compacted out of water and amidst water, by the word of God;
6 by which means the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:
7 but the heavens that now are, and the earth, by the same word have been stored
up for fire, being reserved against the day of judgment and destruction of
ungodly men.
8 But forget not this one thing, beloved, that one day is with the Lord as a
thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some count slackness; but is
longsuffering to you-ward, not wishing 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 which the heavens shall
pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall be dissolved with fervent
heat, and the earth and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
11 Seeing that these things are thus all to be dissolved, what manner of persons
ought ye to be in [all] holy living and godliness,
12 looking for and earnestly desiring the coming of the day of God, by reason of
which the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt
with fervent heat?
13 But, according to his promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth,
wherein dwelleth righteousness.
14 Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for these things, give diligence that
ye may be found in peace, without spot and blameless in his sight.
15 And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our
beloved brother Paul also, according to the wisdom given to him, wrote unto you;
16 as also in all [his] epistles, speaking in them of these things; wherein are
some things hard to be understood, which the ignorant and unstedfast wrest, as
[they do] also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.
17 Ye therefore, beloved, knowing [these things] beforehand, beware lest, being
carried away with the error of the wicked, ye fall from your own stedfastness.
18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To
him [be] the glory both now and for ever. Amen.