
The Second Epistle General of Peter

   {1:1} 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: {1:2} Grace to you and peace
be multiplied in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; {1:3}
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; {1:4} 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. {1:5} Yea, and for this very
cause adding on your part all diligence, in your faith supply virtue;
and in [your] virtue knowledge; {1:6} and in [your] knowledge
self-control; and in [your] self-control patience; and in [your]
patience godliness; {1:7} and in [your] godliness brotherly kindness;
and in [your] brotherly kindness love. {1:8} 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. {1:9} For he that lacketh these
things is blind, seeing only what is near, having forgotten the
cleansing from his old sins. {1:10} Wherefore, brethren, give the more
diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these
things, ye shall never stumble: {1:11} for thus shall be richly
supplied unto you the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ. {1:12} 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]. {1:13} And I think it
right, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting
you in remembrance; {1:14} knowing that the putting off of my
tabernacle cometh swiftly, even as our Lord Jesus Christ signified unto
me. {1:15} Yea, I will give diligence that at every time ye may be able
after my decease to call these things to remembrance. {1:16} 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. {1:17} 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: {1:18} and this
voice we [ourselves] heard borne out of heaven, when we were with him
in the holy mount. {1:19} 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: {1:20} knowing this first, that no prophecy of scripture is of
private interpretation. {1:21} For no prophecy ever came by the will of
man: but men spake from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit.



   {2:1} 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. {2:2} And many shall follow
their lascivious doings; by reason of whom the way of the truth shall
be evil spoken of. {2:3} 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. {2:4} 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; {2:5} 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;
{2:6} 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; {2:7} and delivered righteous Lot, sore distressed
by the lascivious life of the wicked {2:8} (for that righteous man
dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed [his] righteous soul
from day to day with [their] lawless deeds): {2:9} the Lord knoweth how
to deliver the godly out of temptation, and to keep the unrighteous
under punishment unto the day of judgment; {2:10} 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: {2:11}
whereas angels, though greater in might and power, bring not a railing
judgment against them before the Lord. {2:12} 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, {2:13} 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; {2:14} having
eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; enticing
unstedfast souls; having a heart exercised in covetousness; children of
cursing; {2:15} forsaking the right way, they went astray, having
followed the way of Balaam the [son] of Beor, who loved the hire of
wrong-doing; {2:16} but he was rebuked for his own transgression: a
dumb ass spake with man's voice and stayed the madness of the prophet.
{2:17} These are springs without water, and mists driven by a storm;
for whom the blackness of darkness hath been reserved. {2:18} 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; {2:19} 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. {2:20} 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. {2:21} 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. {2:22} 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.



   {3:1} 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; {3:2} 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: {3:3} knowing this first, that in the
last days mockers shall come with mockery, walking after their own
lusts, {3:4} 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. {3:5} 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; {3:6} by which means the
world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: {3:7} 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. {3:8} 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. {3:9} 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.
{3:10} 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. {3:11} Seeing that these things are thus
all to be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in [all]
holy living and godliness, {3:12} 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?
{3:13} But, according to his promise, we look for new heavens and a new
earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. {3:14} 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. {3:15} 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; {3:16} 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. {3:17} Ye therefore, beloved, knowing
[these things] beforehand, beware lest, being carried away with the
error of the wicked, ye fall from your own stedfastness. {3:18} 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.




