God’s Promise Is Not Slack
1 Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle (inbothofwhichI stir up your pure minds by way of reminder),
2 that you may be mindful of the wordswhich were spoken before by the holy prophets,and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior,
3 knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days,walking according to their own lusts,
4 and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue astheywerefrom the beginning ofcreation.”
5 For this they willfully forget: thatby the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earthstanding out of water and in the water,
6 by which the worldthatthen existed perished, being flooded with water.
7 Butthe heavens and the earthwhichare now preserved by the same word, are reserved forfire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
8 But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one dayisas a thousand years, anda thousand years as one day.
9 The Lord is not slack concerningHispromise, as some count slackness, butis longsuffering toward us,not willing that any should perish butthat all should come to repentance.
The Day of the Lord
10 Butthe day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in whichthe heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.
11 Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what mannerofpersonsought you to bein holy conduct and godliness,
12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens willbe dissolved, being on fire, and the elements willmelt with fervent heat?
13 Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look fornew heavens and anew earth in which righteousness dwells.
Be Steadfast
14 Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligentto be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless;
15 and considerthatthe longsuffering of our Lordissalvation—as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you,
16 as also in all hisepistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstablepeopletwist to their own destruction, astheydoalso therest of the Scriptures.
17 You therefore, beloved,since you knowthisbeforehand,beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked;
18 but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
# To Himbethe glory both now and forever. Amen.