2 Peter 3

¹My loved ones, this is now my second letter to you, and in this as in the first, I am attempting to keep your true minds awake;

²So that you may keep in mind the words of the holy prophets in the past, and the law of the Lord and Saviour which was given to you by his Apostles.

³Having first of all the knowledge that in the last days there will be men who, ruled by their evil desires, will make sport of holy things,

⁴Saying, Where is the hope of his coming? From the death of the fathers till now everything has gone on as it was from the making of the world.

⁵But in taking this view they put out of their minds the memory that in the old days there was a heaven, and an earth lifted out of the water and circled by water, by the word of God;

⁶And that the world which then was came to an end through the overflowing of the waters.

⁷But the present heaven and the present earth have been kept for destruction by fire, which is waiting for them on the day of the judging and destruction of evil men.

⁸But, my loved ones, keep in mind this one thing, that with the Lord one day is the same as a thousand years, and a thousand years are no more than one day.

⁹The Lord is not slow in keeping his word, as he seems to some, but he is waiting in mercy for you, not desiring the destruction of any, but that all may be turned from their evil ways.

¹⁰But the day of the Lord will come like a thief; and in that day the heavens will be rolled up with a great noise, and the substance of the earth will be changed by violent heat, and the world and everything in it will be burned up.