The Second General Letter of Peter

1

Simeon Peter, servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have gained a faith of equal worth with us through the righteousness of our God and savior Jesus Christ: 2 May grace and peace be multiplied to you through the knowledge of God and Christ Jesus our Lord; 3 as his divine power has granted all things to us which pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of the one who has called us by glory and virtue, 4 by which a promise most great and precious has been granted to us, that by these things you may cause yourselves to become co-partakers of the divine nature, if you shall have fled from the corruption which through lust has been and continues to be in the world. 5 But also, for this reason adding all diligence, supply in your faith virtue, in virtue knowledge, 6 in knowledge moderation, in moderation patience, in patience godliness, 7 in godliness brotherly kindness, and in brotherly kindness love. 8 For if these things are present with you and in abundance, they will cause you to be toiling neither idly nor in vain, toward the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For the one who lacks these things is blind, and his hand groping in the darkness, having forgotten himself to have been thoroughly cleansed of his old sins. 10 Therefore, brothers, be the more diligent to ensure that your calling and selection is more firmly effected; for if you do these things, you shall never stumble. 11 For indeed in this manner shall entrance be abundantly supplied to you, into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ.

12 Because of this I will not neglect to always keep you reminded of this, though you have known, and are confirmed in the present truth. 13 And I deem it just, so long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance; 14 knowing as I do that it is but a short time before I shall be putting away this tabernacle of mine, as also our Lord Jesus Christ has signified to me. 15 But I will do my best to ensure that you, after my departure, are able to bring these things to remembrance always. 16 For we did not follow artfully devised stories, when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but that with our own eyes we had beheld his majesty. 17 For he received from God the father honor and glory, when such a voice was carried down to him from magnific glory: This is that beloved son of mine in whom I am well-pleased. 18 And that voice, we heard carried down from heaven, when we were together with him on the holy hill.

19 But we have a firmer word of prophecy, to which if you pay attention, as to a lamp appearing in a place of darkness, you do well, until the day shall shine forth, and the star of the dawn rise up in your hearts; 20 if you know first, that all prophecy of scripture is not of private interpretation. 21 For no prophecy was ever brought forth by the will of mankind; but as the holy spirit pushed them, the holy men of God spoke.

2

But also, false prophets had gone out among the people, just as false teachers still exist among us, who introduce pernicious divisions; denying even the Lord who bought them, bringing upon themselves quick destruction. 2 And many will follow in their lusts, through whom the paths of truth shall suffer cursing, 3 and by greed with factitious words they shall make merchandise of you. Their judgment, already from days of eternity long past, does not tarry; and their perdition does not sleep. 4 For if God did not spare angels who sinned, but cast them headlong into the night of Tartarus chained, turned over to the judgment reserved for them; 5 nor did he forgive the original world, but saved only eight people, including Noah, the preacher of righteousness, when he brought the flood down upon the world of wickedness; 6 and he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, overthrowing them and turning them to ash, making them into an example to those who would live wickedly. 7 And he rescued the righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the sexually depraved behavior of the nefarious people there; 8 for that righteous man, in what his eyes saw and ears heard when he lived among them, was suffering in his righteous soul from the wicked things they did day in and day out. 9 He knew God to save the godly from temptation, but the unrighteous he would set aside to be punished in the day of judgment.

10 But most of all, those who walk following the flesh into lusts of uncleanness, and scoff at authority, audacious, pleasing only themselves, unafraid to speak evilly of those in authority; 11 while the angels themselves, being mightier and greater in power, do not bring the judgment of evil speech against them before the Lord. 12 But these, like stupid creatures born but to be seized and destroyed, speaking evil in matters of which they do not know anything, will perish in their own perishing, 13 bringing with them the reward of wickedness, leading themselves by their lusts, if their desires shall be enjoyed during the daylight hours; blotches and blemishes reveling in their wickedness as they make insults at you, 14 having eyes full of adultery; who have no idea as to how to stop sinning; enticing, unstable souls, having a heart exercised in greed, 15 accursed children who have left the right path and strayed according to the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the reward of wickedness, 16 but was rebuked for his own; a simple mute donkey, speaking with a human voice, stopped the prophet’s dementia. 17 These are fountains devoid of water, clouds carried about by a storm, for whom the blackness of darkness has been reserved to eternity. 18 For, when they boom out mighty swelling words of naught, they entice people by the lusts of the flesh, lustily, who are indeed escaping from those who lead lives of error; 19 promising freedom to them, while being themselves slaves to corruption; for of whom one is overcome, of the very same he is brought into slavery. 20 For if after they have fled the defilements of the world by means of the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they have again so gotten caught up and overcome, they have become worse in the end than they were in the beginning. 21 For it would have been enough for them never to have known the way of righteousness, than having known, to have turned away from the holy commandment that was given to them. 22 Indeed it has happened to them as said in the true proverb: “The dog turned back to his own vomit”, and “The cleansed pig turned back to rolling in the mud.”

3

I now write you, most beloved, this second letter, in which I stir up your sincere mind by putting you in remembrance, 2 that you may remember the words which were foresaid by the holy prophets, and those of us who were sent forth, we who are apostles of the Lord and Savior, 3 knowing this first, that there will come deceivers, who walk according to their own lusts, 4 saying, “Where is his promised coming?” as, ever since the fathers fell over, all things have remained as they were since the beginning of creation. 5 For they are willfully ignorant that there have been heavens since eternity long past, constituted from and through water by the word of God, 6 by which means that which was the world, being flooded with water, perished. 7 But the heavens and earth which are now, by the same word, have been stored up and preserved for fire in the day of the judgment and destruction of wicked men. 8 But there is one thing, beloved, that you should not forget: that a single day with the Lord is equivalent to a thousand years, and a thousand years to one day. 9 The Lord who has promised will not delay, as not a few deem to be delay; but he is patient toward you, being that he does not want anyone to perish, but for all to come to repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord shall come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away violently; the elements will be heated to melting, and the earth, and the works that are in it, shall be burned up.

11 Being that all these things will be dissolved, how ought you to be in holy living and godliness, 12 awaiting and hasting the coming of the day of God, by which the heavens shall be burned away by fire, and the elements shall be melted by the heat of fire? 13 But new heavens and a new earth we await, according to his promise, in which righteousness dwells. 14 Therefore, beloved, awaiting these things, make an effort to be found to him in peace, without blemish or blotch; 15 and deem the salvation of our Lord patience, as our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, wrote you, 16 as also he spoke in all the letters he sent of these matters, among which are certainly things difficult to understand, which the untaught and those who are not well establish twist, as with everything else that has been written, to their own destruction.

17 Therefore, beloved, being forewarned of these things, beware; lest with the errors of the wicked you be carried away with others from your own steadfastness. 18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to whom be glory now and in the day of eternity. Amen.