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¹ Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle, in which by reminder I stir up your sincere mind to remember² the words having been spoken before by the holy prophets, and the command of the Lord and Savior by us, the apostles;

³ first, knowing this, that during the last days scoffers will come walking according to their own lusts,⁴ and saying, Where is the promise of His coming? For from which time the fathers fell asleep, all things remain so from the beginning of creation.⁵ For this is hidden from them by their willing it so , that heavens were of old, and earth by water, and through water, having subsisted by the Word of God,⁶ through which the world which then was, being flooded by water, perished.⁷ But the heavens and the earth now, having been stored up by the same Word, are being kept for fire to a day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.

⁸ But let not this one thing be hidden from you, beloved, that one day with the Lord is "as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." Psa. 90:4

⁹ The Lord of the promise is not slow, as some deem slowness, but is long-suffering toward us, not having purposed any to perish, but all to come to repentance.¹⁰ But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with rushing sound, and having burned the elements will be dissolved, and earth and the works in it will be burned up.

¹¹ Then all these being about to be dissolved, of what sort ought you to be in holy behavior and godliness,¹² looking for and hastening the coming of the Day of God, through which the heavens having been set afire will be dissolved; and burning, the elements will melt?¹³ But according to His promise, we look for "new heavens and a new earth," in which righteousness dwells. Isa. 65:17 ¹⁴ Because of this, beloved, looking for these things, be diligent, spotless, and without blemish, to be found in peace by Him.¹⁵ And think of the long-suffering of our Lord as salvation, as also our beloved brother Paul wrote to you, according to the wisdom given to him;¹⁶ as also in all his epistles, speaking in them concerning these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the unlearned and unsettled pervert, as also they do the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.¹⁷ Then beloved, you knowing beforehand, watch lest being led away by the error of the lawless you fall from your own steadfastness.¹⁸ But grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.