| 章 |
| 3:1 |
This is now, beloved, the second letter I am writing to you in which I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder,
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| 3:2 |
that you should remember the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior [spoken] by your apostles.
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| 3:3 |
Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with [their] mocking, following after their own lusts,
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| 3:4 |
and saying, "Where is the promise of His coming? For [ever] since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation."
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| 3:5 |
For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God [the] heavens existed long ago and [the] earth was formed out of water and by water,
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| 3:6 |
through which the world at that time was destroyed, being flooded with water.
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| 3:7 |
But the present heavens and earth by His word are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.
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| 3:8 |
But do not let this one [fact] escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
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| 3:9 |
The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.
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| 3:10 |
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.
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| 3:11 |
Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness,
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| 3:12 |
looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, on account of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat!
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| 3:13 |
But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.
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| 3:14 |
Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless,
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| 3:15 |
and regard the patience of our Lord [to be] salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you,
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| 3:16 |
as also in all [his] letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as [they do] also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.
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| 3:17 |
You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard lest, being carried away by the error of unprincipled men, you fall from your own steadfastness,
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| 3:18 |
but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him [be] the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.
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