3 This second letter I now write to you, beloved (with which I stir up and warn your pure minds),
2 to remind you of the words which were foretold by the holy Prophets; and of the commandment by us, the Apostles of the Lord and Savior.
3 First, understand this: that in the last days there shall come mockers, who will walk after their lusts
4 and say, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the Fathers died, all things continue just as from the beginning of the creation.”
5 For of this they are willingly ignorant: that the heavens were of old; and the earth - which was of the water and by the water - by the word of God;
6 through which water the world that then existed perished, being flooded.
7 But the heavens and earth which exist now are stored up by the same word, and reserved for fire until the Day of Condemnation, and of the destruction of ungodly men.
8 Dearly beloved, do not be ignorant of this one thing: that one day is as a thousand years with the Lord, and a thousand years as one day.
9 The Lord of that promise is not slow as some think of slowness; but is patient toward us, and would have no one perish, but have all come to repentance.
10 But the Day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great rushing noise and the elements shall melt with heat. And the earth, with the works in it, shall be burnt up.
11 Therefore, seeing that all these things must be dissolved, what kind of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness
12 (expecting and earnestly desiring the coming of that Day of God by which the heavens, being on fire, shall be dissolved and the elements shall melt with heat)?
13 But we look for new heavens and a new Earth (according to His promise), in which dwells righteousness.
14 Therefore, beloved, seeing that you look for such things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless.
15 And consider that the patience of our Lord is salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul wrote to you according to the wisdom given to him.
16 As in all his letters, he speaks of these things; among which, some things are hard to understand (which the unlearned and unstable twist, as they do other Scriptures to their own destruction).
17 Therefore you, beloved - seeing you know these things beforehand - beware, lest you are also plucked away with the error of the wicked and fall from your own steadfastness.
18 But grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be glory, both now and forevermore. Amen.