1

1 Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained an equally precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ:

2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,

3 According as his divine power has given to us all things that concern life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who has called us to glory and virtue:

4 By which are given to us exceedingly great and precious promises: that by these you may be sharers in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

5 And besides this, making every effort, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;

6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;

7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness love.

8 For if these things are in you, and abound, they guarantee that you shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

9 But he who lacks these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.

10 Therefore even more, brethren, be diligent to make your calling and election secure: for if you do these things, you shall never fall:

11 For so an entrance shall be provided for you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

12 Therefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though you know them, and are established in the present truth.

13 Yea, I think it fitting, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance;

14 Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ has shown me.

15 Moreover I will endeavor that you may be able after my death to have these things always in remembrance.

16 For we have not followed cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.

17 For he received from God the Father honor and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

18 And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him on the holy mount.

19 We have also a more sure word of prophecy; to which you do well that you pay attention, as to a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns, and the day star arises in your hearts:

20 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.

21 For the prophecy did not come in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

2

1 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who secretly shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord who purchased them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.

2 And many shall follow their destructive ways; because of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.

3 And through covetousness shall they with deceitful words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now for a long time has not delayed, and their damnation does not slumber.

4 For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to gloom, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment;

5 And did not spare the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;

6 And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an example to those who afterwards would live ungodly;

7 And delivered just Lot, distressed with the filthy conduct of the wicked:

8 (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, distressed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;)

9 The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust for the day of judgment to be punished:

10 But chiefly those who walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise authority. Presumptuous and self-willed, they are not afraid to speak evil of that which is honorable

11 While angels, who are greater in power and might, do not bring reproachful accusations against them before the Lord.

12 But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they do not understand; and shall completely perish in their own corruption;

13 And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as those who count it a pleasure to riot in the daytime. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceptions while they feast with you;

14 Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: having a heart they have occupied with covetous practices; cursed children:

15 Who have forsaken the right way, and have gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;

16 But was rebuked for his iniquity: the dumb donkey speaking with man's voice restrained the madness of the prophet.

17 These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever.

18 For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much licentiousness, those who had entirely escaped from those who live in error.

19 While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for by whom a person is overcome, by the same is he brought in bondage.

20 For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.

21 For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them.

22 But it has happened to them according to the true proverb, The dog has turned back to his own vomit; and the sow that was washed has returned to her wallowing in the mire.

3

1 This second epistle, beloved, I now write to you; in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance:

2 That you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Savior:

3 Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,

4 And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.

5 For this they deliberately are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:

6 By which the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:

7 But the heavens and the earth, which now are, by the same word are kept in store, reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

8 But, beloved, do not be ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

9 The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some men count slowness; but is longsuffering towards us, not desiring that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in which the heavens shall pass away with a loud noise, and the elements shall melt with intense heat, the earth also and the works that are upon it shall be burned up.

11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in all holy conduct and godliness,

12 Looking for and hastening to the coming of the day of God, in which the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?

13 Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.

14 Therefore, beloved, seeing that you look for such things, be diligent that you may be found by him in peace, without spot, and blameless.

15 And consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given to him has written to you;

16 As also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood which those who are unlearned and unstable twist, as they do also the other scriptures, to their own destruction.

17 You therefore, beloved, seeing you know these things beforehand, beware lest you also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness.

18 But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.