3 My dear brothers, this is my second letter to you. In both of my letters I have tried to bring some things to your good minds.
2 I want you to remember what God's prophets said would happen. And I want you to remember what we apostles told you that our Lord and Saviour said.
3 Here is the first thing. In the last days, men will come who will make fun of holy things. They will do what they themselves want to do.
4 They will say, `He promised to come. Where is he? Our fathers have died. And since then everything is just the same as it has been since the world was made.'
5 They do not want to remember that long ago God spoke and made the sky. He made the land come up from the water.
6 But later on these same waters covered the world in a flood and the people died.
7 The sky and the earth that are here now are being kept because God spoke. They are kept to be burned up. This will happen on the day when God judges people and they will die.
8 My dear brothers, do not forget this one thing. One day is like a thousand years to the Lord. And a thousand years are like one day.
9 God will do what he promised. He is not slow though, as some people think he is. But he is waiting a long time for you. He does not want anyone to die, but he wants all people to stop their wrong ways.
10 The day of the Lord will come like a man who wants to steal. There will be a loud noise and the sky will go away. The elements will melt with fire and they will be gone. The earth and everything on it will be burned up.
11 That is the way the whole world will go. So think what kind of people you should be! Think how holy and true to God your lives should be!
12 You should look for the day of God and do everything you can to make it come quickly. On that day the sky will be on fire and go away. The elements will burn and melt away.
13 But we are looking for a new sky and a new earth which God has promised. Only good things will be in them.
14 My dear brothers, you are looking for these things. So do all you can so that the Lord will find you without any bad or wrong thing in your lives. Let him find you at peace with one another.
15 Think of this. He is waiting a long time so that people will be saved. Our dear brother Paul also wrote these things to you, because God has made him wise.
16 He also tells about them in all his letters. Some things in his letters are hard to understand. Some people do not know about these things and they are not strong in their faith. They change the meaning of the things Paul wrote. They do this to other things in the holy writings also. Because they do this, they will die.
17 My dear brothers, you know about these things before they happen. Take care that you do not do the same things that bad people do. Take care that you do not stop believing the right way.
18 Have more and more of God's blessing and kindness. Learn more and more about our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. He is great now, and he will be great for ever! Amen! Yes he will!