2 Peter 3

2 Peter 3:1-18

The Day of the Lord Will Come

3 This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them ^g I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, 2 ^h that you should remember the predictions of ⁱ the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, 3 knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come jin the last days with scoffing, ^k following their own sinful desires. 4 ^l They will say, “Where is the promise of ^m his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” 5 For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth ⁿ was formed out of water and through water ^o by the word of God, 6 and that by means of these the world that then existed ^p was deluged with water and ^q perished. 7 But by the same word ^r the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and ^s destruction of the ungodly.

8 But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and ^t a thousand years as one day. 9 ^u The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise ^v as some count slowness, but ^w is patient toward you,^{1  x} not wishing that any should perish, but ^y that all should reach repentance. 10 But ^z the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then ^a the heavens will pass away with a roar, and ^bthe heavenly bodies ² will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.³

11 Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, ^c what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, 12 ^d  waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and ^e the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! 13 But according to his promise we are waiting for ^f new heavens and a new earth ^g  in which righteousness dwells.

Final Words

14 ^hTherefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him ⁱ without spot or ^j blemish, and ^k at peace. 15 And count ^l the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as ^m our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you ⁿ according to the wisdom given him, 16 as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. ^o There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, ^p as they do the other Scriptures. 17 You therefore, beloved, ^q knowing this beforehand, ^r take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. 18 But ^s grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. ^t To him be the glory both now and to the day of ^u eternity. Amen.