2 Peter

Increasing Moral Growth Of The Faithful

Shim‘ōn Peter, a servant and emis­sary of Yĕshūa̒ the Mĕs­si­ah, to those equally as us allotted the Faith by the justice of our Almĭghty and Savior, Yĕshūa̒ the Mĕssiah. ^1:2Loving-kind­ness and shalōm be multiplied to you in the full knowledge of the Al­mĭgh­ty, and of Yĕshūa̒ our ’Adŏ­nai̱, ^3as his divine power will have granted to us everything per­tain­ing to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and excellence, ^4through which he has granted to us his precious and very great pro­mises, in order that through these you might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world because of lust.

^5But due to this same reason, having brought to bear all diligence, supply with your faithfulness virtue, and with virtue knowledge, ^6and with your knowledge, self-con­trol, and with your self-control, steadfast endurance, and with your steadfast endurance, devoted reverence; ^7and with your devoted reverence, brotherly friendship, and with your bro­therly friendship, love. ^8Because if these qualities are yours and are in­creas­ing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our ’Adŏ­nai̱ Yĕshūa̒ the Mĕs­si­ah. ^9Because he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having for­gotten his purification from his for­mer sins. ^10Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make cer­tain about his calling and choosing you, because as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble, ^11because in this way the entrance into the everlasting kingdom of our ’Adŏ­nai̱ and Savior Yĕshūa̒ the Mĕs­si­ah will be abundantly supplied to you.

^12Therefore, I will always be ready to remind you of these things, even though you already know them, and have been established in the truth which is present with you. ^13And I consider it right, as long as I am in this earthly dwelling, to stir you up by way of reminder, ^14knowing that the laying aside of my earthly dwelling is imminent, as also our ’Adŏ­nai̱ Yĕshūa̒ the Mĕs­si­ah has made clear to me. ^15And I will also be diligent that at any time after my departure you may be able to call these things to mind.

Eyewitnesses

^16Because we did not follow cle­ver­ly devised myths when we made known to you the power and Advent of our ’Adŏ­nai̱ Yĕshūa̒ the Mĕs­si­ah, but we were eyewitnesses of his ma­jesty. ^17Because when he received honor and glory from the Al­mĭgh­ty Fă­ther, such an utterance as this was made to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is My beloved Sŏn with whom I am well-pleased”—^18and we our­selves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain.

^19And so we hold firmly the prophetic word, to which you do well to pay attention, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the light bearer may arise in your hearts. ^20But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is let loose by mere co­inci­dence, ^21because no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spĭr­it spoke from the Al­mĭgh­ty.

The Rise of False Prophets

But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce des­tructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. ^2:2And many will follow their sen­suality, and because of them, the way of the truth will be maligned. ^3And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.

^4Because if the Al­mĭgh­ty did not spare messengers when they sinned, but with chains of blackness he tartarized them, handing them over to be guarded for judgment, ^5and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Nōaḥ, a proclaimer of justice, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly, ^6and if he condemned the cities of Sedōm and ‘Amōrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly thereafter, ^7and if he res­cued righteous Lōt, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men ^8(because by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormen­ted day after day with their lawless deeds), ^9then Yăhwēh knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment, ^10and especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise authority.

^10bDaring, self-willed, they do not tremble when they revile majesties, ^11whereas messengers who are greater in might and power do not bring a reviling judgment against them before Yăhwēh. ^12But these, like unreasoning animals, born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, reviling where they have no knowledge, will in the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed, ^13suffering wrong as the wages of doing wrong.

^13bThey count it a pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are stains and ble­mishes, reveling in their decep­tions, as they carouse with you, ^14having eyes full of adultery and that never cease from sin, enticing un­stable souls, having a heart trained in greed, accursed children.

^15Forsaking the right way they have gone astray, having followed the way of Bil‘am, the son of Be‘ōr, who loved the wages of injustice, ^16but he received a rebuke for his own transgression, because a dumb donkey, speaking with a voice of a man, re­strained the madness of the prophet. ^17These are springs without water, and mists driven by a storm, for whom the black darkness is reserved. ^18Because speaking out arrogant words of vanity they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those who bare­ly escape from the ones who live in error, ^19promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption, because by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved.

^20Because if after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of our ’Adŏnai̱ and Savior Yĕshūa̒ the Mĕs­si­ah, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. ^21Because it would be better for them not to have known the way of justice, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment delivered to them. ^22It has happened to them according to the true proverb, “A dog returns to its own vomit,” and, “A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire.”

Purpose of This Letter

This is now, beloved, the se­cond letter I am writing to you in which I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, ^3:2that you should remember the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets and the commandment of Yăhwēh and Savior spoken by your emissaries.

The Coming Day of Yăhwēh

^3Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, ^4and saying, “Where is the promise of his coming? Because ever since the fathers fell asleep, all con­tinues just as it was from the beginning of creation.” ^5Because this willfully escapes their notice, that the heavens and the earth were of old from water, and through water had been put together by the word of the Almĭghty, ^6through which the world at that time was destroyed, being flooded with water. ^7But the present heavens and earth by his word are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and des­truction of ungodly men.

^8But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with Yăhwēh one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. ^9Yăhwēh is not slow about his promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not willing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.

A New Heaven and Earth

^10But the day of Yăhwēh will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.

^11Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, ^12awaiting and being urgent for the Advent of the day of the Al­mĭgh­ty, on account of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat! ^13But according to his promise we are looking for a new heavens and a new earth, in which justice dwells. ^14Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by him in shalōm, spotless and blameless, ^15and regard the patience of our ’Adŏ­nai̱ to be for salvation, just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, ^16as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as also other writings, to their own destruction.

^17You therefore, beloved, know­ing this beforehand, be on your guard lest, being carried away by the error of unprincipled men, you fall from your own steadfastness, ^18but grow in the loving-kindness and know­ledge of our ’Adŏ­nai̱ and Savior Yĕshūa̒ the Mĕs­si­ah. To him be the glory, even now and to the day of time immemorial. ’Amēn.