1. Beloved, I now write this second letter to you, in which I stir up your pure mind by reminder
2. to remember the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of the Lord and Savior by us, the apostles.
3. First, knowing this, that there will come in the last days scoffers 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 as they were from the beginning of creation.
5. For this is hidden from them by their willing it, that the heavens were of old, and the earth out of the water, and through water, being held together by the Word of God,
6. through which the world that then was, being flooded by water, perished.
7. But the present heavens and the earth being kept in store by the same Word, are being kept for fire until the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.
8. But, beloved, let not this one thing be hidden from you, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
9. The Lord is not slow concerning His promise, as some count slowness, but is long-suffering toward us, not purposing that any should perish, but that all should 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 a rushing noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat. And the earth and the works in it will be burned up.
11. Then, all these things being about to be dissolved, what sort ought you to be in holy behavior and godliness,
12. looking for and rushing the coming of the Day of God, on account of which the heavens, being on fire, will melt away, and the elements will melt, burning with heat?
13. But according to His promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
14. Therefore, beloved, looking for these things, be diligent, spotless, and without blemish, to be found by Him in peace.
15. And think of the long-suffering of our Lord as salvation (as our beloved brother Paul also has written to you according to the wisdom given to him
16. as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which the unlearned and unstable pervert, as also they do the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction).
17. Therefore, beloved, knowing beforehand, beware lest being led away with the error of the lawless, you fall from your own steadfastness.
18. But grow in grace and in knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.