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³ knowing this previously, that there will come in the last days scoffers, who will scoff, walking according to their own lusts;⁴ and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for, since our fathers fell asleep, every thing remaineth just as from the beginning of the creation.⁵ For this they willingly forget, that the heavens were of old; and the earth rose up from the waters, and by means of water, by the word of God.⁶ 6 [And], by means of these [waters], the world which then was, [being submerged] again perished in the waters [fn] {And} ⁷ And the heavens that now are, and the earth, are by his word stored up, being reserved for the fire at the day of judgment and the perdition of wicked men.

⁸ And of this one thing, my beloved, be not forgetful, That one day, to the Lord, is as a thousand years; and a thousand years, as one day.

⁹ The Lord doth not procrastinate his promises, as some estimate procrastination; but he is long suffering, for your sakes, being not willing that any should perish, but that every one should come to repentance.¹⁰ And the day of the Lord will come, like a thief; in which the heavens will suddenly pass away; and the elements, being ignited, will be dissolved; and the earth and the works in it, will not be found.

¹¹ As therefore all these things are to be dissolved, what persons ought ye to be, in holy conduct, and in the fear of God,¹² expecting and desiring the coming of the day of God, in which the heavens being tried by fire will be dissolved, and the elements being ignited will melt?¹³ But we, according to his promise, expect new heavens, and a new earth, in which righteousness dwelleth.¹⁴ Therefore, my beloved, as ye expect these things, strive that ye may be found by him in peace, without spot and without blemish.¹⁵ And account the long suffering of the Lord to be redemption; as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom conferred on him, wrote to you;¹⁶ 16 as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which there is something difficult to be understood; [fn] which they who are ignorant and unstable, pervert, as they do also the rest of the scriptures, to their own destruction. ¹⁷ 17 Ye therefore, my beloved, as ye know [fn] beforehand, guard yourselves, lest, by going after the error of the lawless, ye fall from your steadfastness. ¹⁸ But be ye growing in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Redeemer Jesus the Messiah, and of God the Father: whose is the glory, now, and always, and to the days of eternity. Amen.