The New Testament

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2 Peter 3

1Beloved, this is now the second letter I am writing to you. In both I stir up your sincere mind by a reminder, 2so that you may remember the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles. 3Know this above all: in the last days scoffers will come with scoffing, walking according to their own desires 4and saying, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, everything continues just as it has from the beginning of creation.” 5For they deliberately overlook this: long ago there were heavens, and an earth formed out of water and through water by God's word. 6Through these the world of that time was flooded with water and perished. 7But by the same word the present heavens and earth have been stored up for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly people.

8But do not overlook this one thing, beloved: with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. 9The Lord is not slow about the promise, as some consider slowness, but is patient toward you, not wanting any to perish but all to come to repentance. 10But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. On that day the heavens will pass away with a roar, the elements will be dissolved by burning, and the earth and the works in it will be exposed.

11Since all these things are being dissolved in this way, what sort of people must you be in holy conduct and devotion to God, 12waiting for and hastening the coming of God's day, because of which the heavens will be dissolved in fire and the elements melt as they burn! 13But according to his promise we wait for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.

14Therefore, beloved, as you wait for these things, make every effort to be found by him without spot or blemish and at peace. 15And consider the patience of our Lord to be salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, 16as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them about these things. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction. 17You, therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, guard yourselves so that you are not swept away by the error of the lawless and fall from your own firm position. 18But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

Translation notes 6

3:1–4 — Reminder and fathers. The letter does not name the earlier letter here. “Your apostles” is retained rather than changed to “us apostles.” “Fathers” can mean ancestral generations or earlier Christian leaders; the following creation argument gives the term a broad horizon. Falling asleep is the image for death.

3:5–7 — Water and word. “Through these” preserves a plural pronoun whose reference may include the water and God's word in verse 5. Another textual reading has a singular pronoun. The water-and-fire comparison remains the writer's argument; no modern physical model is supplied.

3:8–9 — Time and patience. The comparison echoes Psalm 90:4, with the relation stated in both directions. It is not turned into a formula for calculating dates. “Any” and “all” remain unqualified, alongside the direct statement of patience “toward you.”

3:10–12 — Elements and exposure. “Elements” may mean the constituents of the cosmos or the heavenly bodies; it need not mean modern chemical elements. At the end of verse 10 the base reads literally “will be found,” here interpreted as “will be exposed.” Major textual alternatives are “will be burned up” and “will not be found.” These are differences in the Greek wording, not merely alternative translations of the same verb. “Hastening” in verse 12 is also interpreted as eagerly desiring or awaiting.

3:13–16 — Righteousness and Scripture. The promised new heavens and earth recall Isaiah 65:17 and 66:22. The text compares twisting Paul's letters with twisting “the other Scriptures,” without listing the contents of a complete scriptural collection. Verse 14's “be found” repeats the verb behind “be exposed” in verse 10, now with the desired finding made explicit.

3:17–18 — Guard and grow. The final warning and command to grow are both retained. “Day of eternity” follows the unusual Greek expression rather than replacing it with a timetable. The base includes the final “Amen”; some editions omit it.