Chapter 1

Faithfulness to Our Calling

1 ¶ Simon Peter, a bondservant and an ^aapostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained a ^blike precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ.

2 ¶ ^cGrace and peace be multiplied to you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord,

3 as His ^ddivine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of Him ^ewho has called us to glory and virtue.

4 ^fThrough these are given to us exceeding great and precious promises, so that by them you may be ^gpartakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

5 ¶ And beside this, ^hgiving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, and to virtue ⁱknowledge,

6 and to knowledge self-control, and to self-control patience, and to patience godliness,

7 and to godliness brotherly kindness, and ^jto brotherly kindness love.

8 For if these things are in you and abound, they make you to be neither barren ^knor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

9 For he who lacks these things is blind and ^lshortsighted, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.

10 ¶ Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent ^mto make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never stumble,

11 for an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

The Source of Scripture

12 ¶ Therefore, ⁿI will not be negligent to always remind you of these things, ^othough you know and are established in the present truth.

13 Yes, I think it right, ^pas long as I am in this tent ^qto stir you up by reminding you,

14 ^rknowing that shortly I must put off my tent, even as ^sour Lord Jesus Christ showed me.

15 Moreover, I will be diligent that you may be able after my departure to have these things always in remembrance.

16 ¶ For we did not follow ^tcunningly devised fables when we made known to you the ^upower and ^vcoming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were ^weyewitnesses of His majesty.

17 For He received from God the Father honor and glory when there came such a voice to Him from the Excellent Glory, ^x“This is my beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased.”

18 And we heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with Him on ^ythe holy mountain.

19 ¶ And we have more certain the prophetic word, to which you do well to take heed, as to a ^zlight that shines in a dark place, ^auntil ^bthe day dawns and the morning star arises in your ^chearts.

20 Knowing this first, that ^dno prophecy of the Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation.

21 For the ^eprophecy did not come in old time by the will of man, ^fbut holy men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

Chapter 2

Apostates and Their Destruction

1 ¶ But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be ^afalse teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, bringing on themselves swift destruction.

2 And many will follow their shameful ways. And because of them, the way of truth will be blasphemed.

3 And through covetousness they will with deceptive words exploit you. Their judgment from long ago does not linger and their damnation does not slumber.

4 ¶ For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to pits of darkness and reserved them for judgment;

5 and did not spare the old world, but saved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly;

6 and turning the cities of ^bSodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly;

7 and ^cdelivered righteous Lot, oppressed with the filthy behavior of the wicked—

8 for that righteous man, living among them, ^dwas vexed in his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their unlawful deeds—

9 then ^ethe Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment,

10 especially ^fthose who walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority. ^gThey are presumptuous and self-willed. They are not afraid to speak evil of authorities,

11 whereas ^hangels, who are greater in power and might, do not bring a railing accusation against them before the Lord.

12 ¶ But these, ⁱlike natural brute beasts made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they do not understand. And they will utterly perish in their own corruption.

13 And ^jthey will receive the reward of unrighteousness, as those who count it pleasure ^kto parade in the daytime. ^lThey are stains and blemishes, parading themselves with their own deceptions while ^mthey feast with you;

14 having eyes full of adultery that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls. ⁿThey have a heart they have exercised with covetous practices, accursed children.

15 They have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of ^oBalaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness.

16 But he was rebuked for his iniquity, for the mute donkey, speaking with a man’s voice, restrained the madness of the prophet.

17 ¶ ^pThese are wells without water, clouds and mists that are carried by a storm, for whom the black darkness has been reserved.

18 ¶ For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they entice through the lusts of the flesh, through sensuality, those who are barely escaping from those who live in error.

19 While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the bondservants of corruption. ^qFor by whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought into bondage.

20 For if after they ^rhave escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are ^sagain entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning.

21 For ^tit would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them.

22 But it has happened to them according to the true proverb, ^u“A dog returns to his own vomit,” and, “a sow that was washed, to her wallowing in the mire.”

Chapter 3

The Day of the Lord

1 ¶ This is now, beloved, the second letter I write to you in which ^aI stir up your pure minds by way of reminder,

2 so that you may be mindful of the words ^bthat were spoken before by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through us your apostles.

3 Knowing this first, that scoffers will come in the last days, ^dwalking after their own lusts,

4 and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of ^ecreation.

5 For this they willfully forget, that ^fby the word of God the heavens were of old and the earth ^gstanding out of the water and in the water,

6 ^hthrough which the world that then existed was destroyed, being overflowed with water.

7 But ⁱthe heavens and the earth that are now, are reserved by the same word, reserved for ^jfire until the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.

8 ¶ But beloved, do not be ignorant of this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as ^ka thousand years and a thousand years as one day.

9 ^lThe Lord is not slack concerning His promise as some men count slackness. But He is ^mlongsuffering toward you, ⁿnot willing that any should perish but ^othat all should come to repentance.

10 ¶ But ^pthe day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night in which ^qthe heavens will pass away with a great noise and the elements will melt with fervent heat. The earth also and the works that are therein will be burned up.

11 Since all these things will be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be ^rin holy conduct and godliness,

12 ^slooking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens, being on fire, will ^tbe dissolved and the elements will ^umelt with fervent heat?

13 But we, according to His promise, look for ^vnew heavens and a ^wnew earth in which righteousness dwells.

14 ¶ Therefore, beloved, seeing that you look for these things, be diligent ^xto be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless.

15 And regard ^ythe longsuffering of our Lord as salvation, even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given to him has written to you,

16 as also in all his ^zletters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which those who are untaught and unstable distort to their own destruction, as they do also ^athe other Scriptures.

17 ¶ You therefore, beloved, ^bseeing you know these things before, ^cbeware lest you also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness.

18 ^dBut grow in grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. ^eTo Him be glory both now and forever. Amen.