2 Peter
Chapter 11. Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have
obtained a like precious faith with us in the righteousness of our God and
[the] Saviour Jesus Christ:
2 Grace to you and peace be multiplied in the knowledge of God and of
Jesus our Lord;
3 seeing that his divine power hath granted unto us all things that
pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that called
us by his own glory and virtue;
4 whereby he hath granted unto us his precious and exceeding great
promises; that through these ye may become partakers of the divine nature,
having escaped from the corruption that is in that world by lust.
5. Yea, and for this very cause adding on your part all diligence, in your
faith supply virtue; and in [your] virtue knowledge;
6 and in [your] knowledge self-control; and in [your] self-control
patience; and in [your] patience godliness;
7 and in [your] godliness brotherly kindness; and in [your] brotherly
kindness love.
8 For if these things are yours and abound, they make you to be not idle
nor unfruitful unto the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9 For he that lacketh these things is blind, seeing only what is near,
having forgotten the cleansing from his old sins.
10 Wherefore, brethren, give the more diligence to make your calling and
election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never stumble:
11 for thus shall be richly supplied unto you the entrance into the
eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
12. Wherefore I shall be ready always to put you in remembrance of these
things, though ye know them, and are established in the truth which is with
[you].
13 And I think it right, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you
up by putting you in remembrance;
14 knowing that the putting off of my tabernacle cometh swiftly, even as
our Lord Jesus Christ signified unto me.
15 Yea, I will give diligence that at every time ye may be able after my
decease to call these things to remembrance.
16. For we did not follow cunningly devised fables, when we made known
unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were
eyewitnesses of his majesty.
17 For he received from God the Father honor and glory, when there was
borne such a voice to him by the Majestic Glory, This is my beloved Son, in
whom I am well pleased:
18 and this voice we [ourselves] heard borne out of heaven, when we were
with him in the holy mount.
19. And we have the word of prophecy [made] more sure; whereunto ye do
well that ye take heed, as unto a lamp shining in a dark place, until the
day dawn, and the day-star arise in your hearts:
20 knowing this first, that no prophecy of scripture is of private
interpretation.
21 For no prophecy ever came by the will of man: but men spake from God,
being moved by the Holy Spirit.
2 Peter
Chapter 21. But there arose false prophets also among the people, as among you also
there shall be false teachers, who shall privily bring in destructive
heresies, denying even the Master that bought them, bringing upon
themselves swift destruction.
2 And many shall follow their lascivious doings; by reason of whom the
way of the truth shall be evil spoken of.
3. And in covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of
you: whose sentence now from of old lingereth not, and their destruction
slumbereth not.
4 For if God spared not angels when they sinned, but cast them down to
hell, and committed them to pits of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;
5 and spared not the ancient world, but preserved Noah with seven others,
a preacher of righteousness, when he brought a flood upon the world of the
ungodly;
6 and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned them
with an overthrow, having made them an example unto those that should live
ungodly;
7. and delivered righteous Lot, sore distressed by the lascivious life of
the wicked
8 (for that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing,
vexed [his] righteous soul from day to day with [their] lawless deeds):
9 the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation, and to
keep the unrighteous under punishment unto the day of judgment;
10. but chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of defilement,
and despise dominion. Daring, self-willed, they tremble not to rail at
dignities:
11 whereas angels, though greater in might and power, bring not a railing
judgment against them before the Lord.
12 But these, as creatures without reason, born mere animals to be taken
and destroyed, railing in matters whereof they are ignorant, shall in their
destroying surely be destroyed,
13 suffering wrong as the hire of wrong-doing; [men] that count it
pleasure to revel in the day-time, spots and blemishes, revelling in their
deceivings while they feast with you;
14 having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; enticing
unstedfast souls; having a heart exercised in covetousness; children of
cursing;
15 forsaking the right way, they went astray, having followed the way of
Balaam the [son] of Beor, who loved the hire of wrong-doing;
16 but he was rebuked for his own transgression: a dumb ass spake with
man's voice and stayed the madness of the prophet.
17 These are springs without water, and mists driven by a storm; for whom
the blackness of darkness hath been reserved.
18 For, uttering great swelling [words] of vanity, they entice in the
lusts of the flesh, by lasciviousness, those who are just escaping from
them that live in error;
19 promising them liberty, while they themselves are bondservants of
corruption; for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he also brought
into bondage.
20 For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through
the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again
entangled therein and overcome, the last state is become worse with them
than the first.
21 For it were better for them not to have known the way of
righteousness, than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy
commandment delivered unto them.
22 It has happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog
turning to his own vomit again, and the sow that had washed to wallowing in
the mire.
2 Peter
Chapter 31. This is now, beloved, the second epistle that I write unto you; and in
both of them I stir up your sincere mind by putting you in remembrance;
2 that ye should remember the words which were spoken before by the holy
prophets, and the commandments of the Lord and Saviour through your
apostles:
3. knowing this first, that in the last days mockers shall come with
mockery, walking after their own lusts,
4 and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for, from the day that
the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the
beginning of the creation.
5 For this they willfully forget, that there were heavens from of old,
and an earth compacted out of water and amidst water, by the word of God;
6 by which means the world that then was, being overflowed with water,
perished:
7 but the heavens that now are, and the earth, by the same word have been
stored up for fire, being reserved against the day of judgment and
destruction of ungodly men.
8. But forget not this one thing, beloved, that one day is with the Lord
as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
9. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some count slackness;
but is longsuffering to you-ward, not wishing 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 which the heavens
shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall be dissolved
with fervent heat, and the earth and the works that are therein shall be
burned up.
11. Seeing that these things are thus all to be dissolved, what manner of
persons ought ye to be in [all] holy living and godliness,
12 looking for and earnestly desiring the coming of the day of God, by
reason of which the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the
elements shall melt with fervent heat?
13 But, according to his promise, we look for new heavens and a new
earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.
14 Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for these things, give
diligence that ye may be found in peace, without spot and blameless in his
sight.
15 And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as
our beloved brother Paul also, according to the wisdom given to him, wrote
unto you;
16 as also in all [his] epistles, speaking in them of these things;
wherein are some things hard to be understood, which the ignorant and
unstedfast wrest, as [they do] also the other scriptures, unto their own
destruction.
17 Ye therefore, beloved, knowing [these things] beforehand, beware lest,
being carried away with the error of the wicked, ye fall from your own
stedfastness.
18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ. To him [be] the glory both now and for ever. Amen.