001:001 Simon Peter, a bondservant and Apostle of Jesus Christ: To those to whom there has been allotted the same precious faith as that which is ours through the righteousness of our God and of our Saviour Jesus Christ.

001:002 May more and more grace and peace be granted to you in a full knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord,

001:003 seeing that His divine power has given us all things that are needful for life and godliness, through our knowledge of Him who has appealed to us by His own glorious perfections.

001:004 It is by means of these that He has granted us His precious and wondrous promises, in order that through them you may, one and all, become sharers in the very nature of God, having completely escaped the corruption which exists in the world through earthly cravings.

001:005 But for this very reason—adding, on your part, all earnestness— along with your faith, manifest also a noble character: along with a noble character, knowledge;

001:006 along with knowledge, self-control; along with self-control,
power of endurance;

001:007 along with power of endurance, godliness; along with godliness,
brotherly affection; and along with brotherly affection, love.

001:008 If these things exist in you, and continually increase,
they prevent your being either idle or unfruitful in advancing
towards a full knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

001:009 For the man in whom they are lacking is blind and cannot see
distant objects, in that he has forgotten that he has been
cleansed from his old sins.

001:010 For this reason, brethren, be all the more in earnest to make sure that God has called you and chosen you; for it is certain that so long as you practise these things, you will never stumble.

001:011 And so a triumphant admission into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ will be freely granted to you.

001:012 For this reason I shall always persist in reminding you of these things, although you know them and are stedfast believers in truth which you already possess.

001:013 But I think it right, so long as I remain in the body, my present dwelling-place, to arouse you by such reminders.

001:014 For I know that the time for me to lay aside my body is now rapidly drawing near, even as our Lord Jesus Christ has revealed to me.

001:015 So on every possible occasion I will also do my best to enable you to recall these things after my departure.

001:016 For when we made known to you the power and Coming of our
Lord Jesus Christ, we were not eagerly following cleverly
devised legends, but we had been eye-witnesses of His majesty.

001:017 He received honour and glory from God the Father, and out
of the wondrous glory words such as these were spoken
to Him, "This is My dearly-loved Son, in whom I take delight."

001:018 And we ourselves heard these words come from Heaven, when we were with Him on the holy mountain.

001:019 And in the written word of prophecy we have something more permanent; to which you do well to pay attention— as to a lamp shining in a dimly-lighted place—until day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.

001:020 But, above all, remember that no prophecy in Scripture will
be found to have come from the prophet's own prompting;

001:021 for never did any prophecy come by human will, but men sent
by God spoke as they were impelled by the Holy Spirit.

002:001 But there were also false prophets among the people, as there will be teachers of falsehood among you also, who will cunningly introduce fatal divisions, disowning even the Sovereign Lord who has redeemed them, and bringing on themselves swift destruction.

002:002 And in their immoral ways they will have many eager disciples, through whom religion will be brought into disrepute.

002:003 Thirsting for riches, they will trade on you with their canting talk.
From of old their judgement has been working itself out,
and their destruction has not been slumbering.

002:004 For God did not spare angels when they had sinned, but hurling
them down to Tartarus consigned them to caves of darkness,
keeping them in readiness for judgement.

002:005 And He did not spare the ancient world, although He preserved Noah,
a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought
a deluge on the world of the ungodly.

002:006 He reduced to ashes the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah,
and condemned them to overthrow, making them an example
to people who might in future be living godless lives.

002:007 But when righteous Lot was sore distressed by the gross misconduct of immoral men He rescued him.

002:008 (For their lawless deeds were torture, day after day,
to the pure soul of that righteous man—all that he saw
and heard whilst living in their midst.)

002:009 Since all this is so, the Lord knows how to rescue godly men
from temptation, and on the other hand how to keep the unrighteous
under punishment in readiness for the Day of Judgement,

002:010 and especially those who are abandoned to sensuality— craving, as they do, for polluted things, and scorning control. Fool-hardy and self-willed, they do not tremble when speaking evil of glorious beings;

002:011 while angels, though greater than they in might and power, do not bring any insulting accusation against such in the presence of the Lord.

002:012 But these men, like brute beasts, created (with their
natural instincts) only to be captured or destroyed,
are abusive in matters of which they are ignorant, and in their
corruption will perish,

002:013 being doomed to receive a requital for their guilt.
They reckon it pleasure to feast daintily in broad daylight.
They are spots and blemishes, while feeding luxuriously
at their love-feasts, and banqueting with you.

002:014 Their very eyes are full of adultery—being eyes which never
cease from sin. These men set traps to catch unstedfast
souls, their own hearts being well trained in greed.
They are fore-doomed to God's curse!

002:015 Forsaking the straight road, they have gone astray, having eagerly followed in the steps of Balaam, the son of Beor, who was bent on securing the wages of unrighteousness.

002:016 But he was rebuked for his transgression: a dumb ass spoke
with a human voice and checked the madness of the Prophet.

002:017 These people are wells without water, mists driven along by a storm,
men for whom the dense darkness has been reserved.

002:018 For, while they pour out their frivolous and arrogant talk, they use earthly cravings—every kind of immorality— as a bait to entrap men who are just escaping from the influence of those who live in error.

002:019 And they promise them freedom, although they are themselves the slaves of what is corrupt. For a man is the slave of any one by whom he has been worsted in fight.

002:020 For if, after escaping from the pollutions of the world through a full knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, people are once more entangled in these pollutions and are overcome, their last state has become worse than their first.

002:021 For it would have been better for them not to have fully known the way of righteousness, than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy commandments in which they were instructed.

002:022 Their case is that described in the true proverb, "A dog returns to what he has vomited," and also in the other proverb, "The sow has washed itself and now goes back to roll in its filth."

003:001 This letter which I am now writing to you, dear friends,
is my second letter. In both my letters I seek to revive
in your honest minds the memory of certain things,

003:002 so that you may recall the words spoken long ago by the holy Prophets,
and the commandments of our Lord and Saviour given you
through your Apostles.

003:003 But, above all, remember that, in the last days, men will
come who make a mock at everything—men governed only by
their own passions,

003:004 and, asking, "What has become of His promised Return? For from
the time our forefathers fell asleep all things continue
as they have been ever since the creation of the world."

003:005 For they are wilfully blind to the fact that there were heavens which existed of old, and an earth, the latter arising out of water and extending continuously through water, by the command of God;

003:006 and that, by means of these, the then existing race of men was overwhelmed with water and perished.

003:007 But the present heavens and the present earth are, by the command
of the same God, kept stored up, reserved for fire in preparation
for a day of judgement and of destruction for the ungodly.

003:008 But there is one thing, dear friends, which you must not forget.
With the Lord one day resembles a thousand years and a thousand
years resemble one day.

003:009 The Lord is not slow in fulfilling His promise, in the sense
in which some men speak of slowness. But He bears patiently
with you, His desire being that no one should perish but that
all should come to repentance.

003:010 The day of the Lord will come like a thief—it will be a day
on which the heavens will pass away with a rushing noise,
the elements be destroyed in the fierce heat, and the earth
and all the works of man be utterly burnt up.

003:011 Since all these things are thus pre-destined to dissolution,
what sort of men ought you to be found to be in all holy
living and godly conduct,

003:012 eagerly looking forward to the coming of the day of God,
by reason of which the heavens, all ablaze, will be destroyed,
and the elements will melt in the fierce heat?

003:013 But in accordance with His promise we are expecting new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness will dwell.

003:014 Therefore, dear friends, since you have these expectations,
earnestly seek to be found in His presence, free from blemish
or reproach, in peace.

003:015 And always regard the patient forbearance of our Lord as salvation,
as our dear brother Paul also has written to you in virtue
of the wisdom granted to him.

003:016 That is what he says in all his letters, when speaking in them of these things. In those letters there are some statements hard to understand, which ill-taught and unprincipled people pervert, just as they do the rest of the Scriptures, to their own ruin.

003:017 You, therefore, dear friends, having been warned beforehand, must continually be on your guard so as not to be led astray by the false teaching of immoral men nor fall from your own stedfastness.

003:018 But be always growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To Him be all glory, both now and to the day of Eternity!

*****

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