2 Peter 3
1Beloved, this is now the second letter I am writing to you. In both of them, I am attempting to wake up your pure mind by way of a reminder, 2so that you may recall the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets and the commandment of our Lord and Savior given through your apostles.
3Know this first of all: in the last days, mockery-filled mockers will come, living according to their own desires 4and asking, “Where is the promise of his presence? For ever since the fathers fell asleep in death, all things continue exactly as they have from the beginning of creation.” 5For they deliberately ignore this: that by the word of God heavens existed long ago and an earth was formed out of water and through water. 6Through these waters, the world that then existed was flooded and destroyed. 7But by the same word, the present heavens and earth are stored up for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and the destruction of ungodly people.
8Do not let this one thing escape your notice, beloved: with the Lord, one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day. 9The Lord is not slow concerning the promise, as some define slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to be destroyed but for all to come to a change of heart.
10But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. On that day, the heavens will pass away with a rushing roar, the fundamental elements will be dissolved with intense heat, and the earth and the works done in it will be exposed. 11Since all these things are to be dissolved in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You must live in holy conduct and acts of devotion, 12waiting for and even hastening the presence of the day of God. Because of that day, the heavens will be dissolved by fire and the fundamental elements will melt with intense heat. 13But according to his promise, we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth, in which justice makes its home.
14Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these things, make every effort to be found by him at peace, without spot or blemish. 15Regard the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given to him. 16He speaks about these things in all his letters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable distort—as they do the rest of the Scriptures—to their own destruction.
17You therefore, beloved, since you know these things in advance, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled people and fall from your own stability. 18Instead, 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.