\NormalFont\ShortTitle{2 Peter}
{\MT Peter’s Second Letter

\par }\ChapOne{1}{\SH Introduction
\par }{\PP \VerseOne{1}To
those
to
whom,
through
the
justice
of
our
God
and
Savior
Jesus
Christ,
there
has
been
granted
faith equally privileged
with
our
own,
from
Simon
Peter,
a
servant
and
an apostle
of
Jesus
Christ.
\par }{\BB \par }{\PP \VS{2}May
blessing
and
peace
be
yours
in
ever
increasing
measure,
as
you
advance
in
the
knowledge
of
God
and
of
Jesus,
our
Lord.
\VS{3}For
his
divine
power
has
given
us
everything
that
is
needful
for
a
life
of
piety,
as
we
advance
in
the
knowledge
of
him
who
called
us
by
a
glorious manifestation
of
his
goodness.
\VS{4}For
it
was
through
this
that
he
gave
us
what
we
prize
as
the
greatest
of
his
promises,
that
through
them
you
might participate
in
the
divine
nature,
now
that
you
have
fled
from
the
corruption
in
the
world,
resulting
from
human
passions.
\VS{5}Yes,
and
for
this
reason
do
your
best
to supplement
your
faith
by
goodness,
goodness
by
knowledge,
\VS{6}knowledge
by
self-control,
self-control
by
endurance,
endurance
by
piety,
\VS{7}piety
by mutual
affection,
and mutual
affection
by
love.
\VS{8}For,
when
these virtues
are
yours,
in
increasing
measure,
they
prevent
your
being indifferent
to,
or
destitute
of,
a fuller
knowledge
of
our
Lord
Jesus
Christ.
\VS{9}Surely
the
person
who
has
not
these virtues
is shortsighted
even
to
blindness,
and
has
chosen
to
forget
that
they
have
been
purified
from
their
sins
of
the
past!
\VS{10}Therefore,
friends,
do
your
best
to
put
God’s
call
and selection
of
you
beyond
all
doubt;
for,
if
you
do
this,
you
will
never
fall.
\VS{11}For
in
this
way
you
will
be
given
a
triumphant admission
into
the
eternal
kingdom
of
our
Lord
and
Savior,
Jesus
Christ.
\par }{\SH The Transfiguration
and
the ‘Second Coming’
of
the
Christ
\par }{\PP \VS{12}I
will,
therefore,
always
be
ready
to
remind
you
of
all
this,
even
though
you
know
it
and
are
firmly
established
in
the
truth
that
you
now
hold.
\VS{13}But
I
think
it
my
duty,
as
long
as
I
live
in
this ‘tent,’
to
rouse
you
by awakening memories
of
the
past;
\VS{14}for
I
know
that
the
time
for
this ‘tent’
of
mine
to
be
put
away
is
soon
coming,
as
our
Lord
Jesus
Christ
himself
assured
me.
\VS{15}So
I
will
do
my
best
to
enable
you,
at
any
time
after
my
departure,
to
call
these truths
to
mind.
\VS{16}For
we
were
not
following
cleverly
devised
stories
when
we
told
you
of
the
coming
in
power
of
our
Lord
Jesus
Christ,
but
we
had
been eye-witnesses
of
his
majesty.
\VS{17}For
he
received
honor
and
glory
from
God
the
Father,
when
from
the
glory
of
the
Divine
Majesty
there
were
borne
to
his
ears
words
such
as
these – ‘This
is
my
dearly
loved
son,
who
brings
me
great
joy.’
\VS{18}These
were
the
words
that
we
heard,
borne
to
our
ears
from
heaven,
when
we
were
with
him
on
that
sacred
mountain.
\VS{19}And
still
stronger
is
the
assurance
that
we
have
in
the
teaching
of
the
prophets;
to
which
you
will
do
well
to
pay
attention (as
if
it
were
a
lamp
shining
in
a
gloomy
place),
until
the
day
dawns
and
the
morning
star
rises
in
your
hearts.
\VS{20}But
first
be
assured
of
this:
There
is
no
prophetic
teaching
found
in
scripture
that
can
be
interpreted
by
a
person’s unaided
reason;
\VS{21}for
no
prophetic
teaching
ever
came
in
the
old
days
at
the
mere
wish
of
people,
but
people,
moved
by
the
Holy
Spirit,
spoke
direct
from
God.

\par }\Chap{2}{\SH Warning against separating Christianity from a Holy Life
\par }{\PP \VerseOne{1}But
there
were
false
prophets
also
in
the
nation,
just
as
there
will
be
false
teachers
among
you,
people
who
will
secretly
introduce
ruinous
divisions, disowning
even
the
Lord
who
bought
them,
and
bringing
speedy
ruin
on
themselves.
\VS{2}There
will
be
many,
too,
who
will
follow
their licentious
courses,
and
cause
the
way
of
the
truth
to
be maligned.
\VS{3}In
their
covetousness
they
will
try
to
make
you
a
source
of
profit
by
their fabrications;
but
for
a
long
time
past
their
sentence
has
not
been
standing
idle,
nor
their
ruin slumbering.
\VS{4}Remember,
God
did
not
spare
angels
when
they
sinned,
but
sent
them
down
to Tartarus,
and consigned
them
to
caverns
of
darkness,
to
be
kept
under
guard
for
judgment.
\VS{5}Nor
did
he
spare
the
world
of
old;
though
he
preserved
Noah,
the
preacher
of
righteousness,
and
seven
others,
when
he
brought
a
flood
on
the
godless
world.
\VS{6}He
condemned
the
cities
of
Sodom
and
Gomorrah
and
reduced
them
to
ashes,
holding
them
up
as
a
warning
to
the
godless
of
what
was
in
store
for
them;
\VS{7}but
he
rescued
righteous
Lot,
whose
heart
was
vexed
by
the
wanton licentiousness
of
his
neighbors;
\VS{8}for,
seeing
and
hearing
what
he
did,
as
he
lived
his
righteous
life
among
them,
day
after
day,
Lot’s
righteous
soul
was tortured
by
their
wicked
doings.
\VS{9}The
Lord,
therefore,
knows
how
to
deliver
the pious
from
temptation,
and
to
keep
the
wicked,
who
are
even
now
suffering
punishment,
in
readiness
for ‘the
day
of judgment’ –
\VS{10}especially
those
who,
following
the promptings
of
their
lower nature,
indulge
their
polluting
passions
and
despise
all
control. Audacious
and self-willed,
they
feel
no
awe
of
the celestial
beings, maligning
them,
\VS{11}even
where
angels,
though excelling
them
in
strength
and
power,
do
not
bring
against
them
a
malignant
charge
before
the
Lord.
\VS{12}These
people,
however,
like
animals
without
reason,
intended
by nature
to
be
caught
and
killed –
these
people,
I
say, malign
those
of
whom
they
know
nothing,
and
will
assuredly
perish
through
their
own
corruption,
\VS{13}suffering
themselves,
as
the
penalty
for
the
suffering
that
they
have
inflicted.
They
think
that
pleasure
consists
in
the self-indulgence
of
the
moment.
They
are
a
stain
and
a
disgrace,
indulging,
as
they
do,
in
their
wanton revelry,
even
while
joining
you
at
your
feasts.
\VS{14}They
have
eyes
only
for
adulteresses,
eyes
never
tired
of
sin;
they
entice
weak
souls;
their
minds
are
trained
to
covet;
they
live
under
a
curse.
\VS{15}Leaving
the
straight
road,
they
have
gone
astray
and
followed
in
the
steps
of
Balaam,
the
son
of
Beor,
who
set
his
heart
on
the
reward
for
wrongdoing,
\VS{16}but
was
rebuked
for
his
offense.
A
dumb
animal
spoke
with
a
human
voice,
and
checked
the
prophet’s
madness.
\VS{17}These
people
are
like
springs
without
water,
or mists
driven
before
a
gale;
and
for
them
the blackest
darkness
has
been
reserved.
\VS{18}With
boastful
and
foolish
talk,
they
appeal
to
the
passions
of
people’s
lower nature,
and,
by
their profligacy,
entice
those
who
are
just
escaping
from
the
people
who
live
such misguided
lives.
\VS{19}They
promise
them
freedom,
while
they
themselves
are
slaves
to
corrupt habits;
for
a
person
is
the
slave
of
anything
to
which
they
give
way.
\VS{20}If,
after
having
escaped
the
polluting
influences
of
the
world,
through
knowing
our
Lord
and
Savior,
Jesus
Christ,
people
are
again
entangled
in
them,
and
give
way
to
them,
their
last
state
has
become
worse
than
their
first.
\VS{21}It
would,
indeed,
have
been
better
for
them
not
to
have
known
the
way
of
righteousness,
than,
after
knowing
it,
to
turn
away
from
the
holy
command
delivered
to
them.
\VS{22}In
their
case
is
seen
the
truth
of
the
proverb – ‘A
dog
returns
to
what
it
has vomited’
and ‘A
sow
after
washing
to
her wallowing-place
in
the
mud.’

\par }\Chap{3}{\SH A Reassertion of the ‘Second Coming’ of the Christ
\par }{\PP \VerseOne{1}This,
dear
friends,
is
my
second
letter
to
you.
In
both
of
them
I
have
tried,
by appealing
to
your
remembrance,
to
arouse
your
better
feelings.
\VS{2}I
want
you
to
recall
what
was foretold
by
the
holy
prophets,
as
well
as
the
command
of
our
Lord
and
Savior
given
to
you
through
your apostles.
\VS{3}First
be
assured
of
this,
that,
as
the
age
draws
to
an
end,
scoffers,
led
by
their
own
passions,
\VS{4}will
come
and
ask scoffingly – ‘Where
is
his
promised
coming?
Ever
since
our
ancestors
passed
to
their
rest,
everything
remains
just
as
it
was
when
the
world
was
first
created!’
\VS{5}For
they
willfully
shut
their
eyes
to
the
fact
that
long
ago
the
heavens
existed;
and
the
earth,
also –
formed
out
of
water
and
by
the
action
of
water,
by
the fiat
of
God;
\VS{6}and
that
by
the
same
means
the
world
which
then
existed
was
destroyed
in
a deluge
of
water.
\VS{7}But
the
present
heavens
and
earth,
by
the
same fiat,
have
been
reserved
for
fire,
and
are
being
kept
for
the
day
of
the
judgment
and
destruction
of
the
godless.
\par }{\PP \VS{8}But
you,
dear
friends,
must
never
shut
your
eyes
to
the
fact
that,
to
the
Lord,
one
day
is
the
same
as
a
thousand
years,
and
a
thousand
years
as
one
day.
\VS{9}The
Lord
is
not
slow
to
fulfill
his
promise,
as
some
count
slowness;
but
he
is
forbearing
with
you,
as
it
is
not
his
will
that
any
of
you
should
perish,
but
that
all
should
be
brought
to
repentance.
\VS{10}The
day
of
the
Lord
will
come
like
a
thief;
and
on
that
day
the
heavens
will
pass
away
with
a
crash,
the
elements
will
be
burnt
up
and
dissolved,
and
the
earth
and
all
that
is
in
it
will
be
disclosed.
\VS{11}Now,
since
all
these
things
are
in
the
process
of dissolution,
think
what
you
yourselves
ought
to
be –
what
holy
and pious
lives
you
ought
to
lead,
\VS{12}while
you
wait
for
the
coming
of
the
day
of
God
and
strive
to
make
it
come
soon\FTNT{*}{{\FR 3:12 }
Or: and desire its coming.}.
At
its
coming
the
heavens
will
be
dissolved
in
fire,
and
the
elements
melted
by
heat,
\VS{13}but
we
look
for
new
heavens
and
a
new
earth,
where
righteousness
will
have
its
home,
in
fulfillment
of
the
promise
of
God.
\par }{\PP \VS{14}Therefore,
dear
friends,
in
expectation
of
these
things,
make
every
effort
to
be
found
by
him spotless,
blameless,
and
at
peace.
\VS{15}Regard
our
Lord’s
forbearance
as
your
one
hope
of
salvation.
This
is
what
our
dear
friend
Paul
wrote
to
you,
with
the
wisdom
that
God
gave
him.
\VS{16}It
is
the
same
in
all
his
letters,
when
he
speaks
in
them
about
these
subjects.
There
are
some
things
in
them
difficult
to
understand,
which untaught
and
weak
people
distort,
just
as
they
do
all
other writings,
to
their
own
ruin.
\VS{17}You
must,
therefore,
dear
friends,
now
that
you
know
this
beforehand,
be
on
your
guard
against
being
led
away
by
the
errors
of
reckless
people,
and
so lapsing
from
your
present
steadfastness;
\VS{18}and
advance
in
the
love
and
knowledge
of
our
Lord
and
Savior,
Jesus
Christ.
All
glory
be
to
him
now
and
for
ever.\par }