From: Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus, the Messiah. To: Those who have received faith that is as valuable as ours through the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus the Messiah.

Grace and peace [that special sense of spiritual well-being] be multiplied to you in the [true, intimate] knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

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.

For as these qualities are yours and are increasing [in you as you grow toward spiritual maturity], they will keep you from being useless and unproductive in regard to the true knowledge and greater understanding of our Lord Jesus Christ.

But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.

Wherefore, all the more, brethren, give diligence to be making, firm, your calling and election; for, these things, doing, in nowise shall ye stumble at any time,

Therefore, I will always be ready to remind you of these things, even though you already know them and are established in the truth which is held firmly in your grasp.

for, the information we gave you of the powerful advent of our Lord Jesus Christ, did not proceed from any artfully contriv'd fables, we our selves having been spectators of his majesty.

For he received from God the Father honour 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.

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

And we have more firm the prophetic word, to which we do well giving heed, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, till day may dawn, and a morning star may arise -- in your hearts;

knowing this first, that the scope of no prophecy of scripture is had from its own particular interpretation,

For no prophecy ever came by the will of man: but men spake from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit.

But there were false prophets among the people, as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly put forward wrong teachings for your destruction, even turning away from the Lord who gave himself for them; whose destruction will come quickly, and they themselves will be the cause of it.

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.

and if He did not spare the ancient world of Noah's day, when He brought a flood on those ungodly people (though Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven other people, were saved from it);

and delivered righteous Lot, vexed by the lewd conduct of the wicked;??8 for that righteous man living among them vexed his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their wicked deeds;??9 the Lord knows how to deliver the pious from trial, and to keep the wicked to the day of judgment to be punished,

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

[then] the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to reserve the unrighteous to be punished at the day of judgment,

Being bold and arrogant, they are not afraid to slander glorious beings. Yet even angels, although they are greater in strength and power, do not bring a slanderous accusation against them from the Lord.

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

They strayed away [from God] by taking the wrong road like Balaam, the son of Bosor did, who loved the reward for doing wrong.

But Balaam was rebuked for his own wrongdoing by a speechless donkey, who spoke out in a man's voice and prevented the prophet from continuing his foolishness.

For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error.

for, if having escaped from the pollutions of the world, in the acknowledging of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and by these again being entangled, they have been overcome, become to them hath the last things worse than the first,

For it had 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 unto them.

to have you recollect the words spoken by the holy prophets beforehand and the command given by your apostles from the Lord and saviour.

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.

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;

But let not this one thing be hidden from you, beloved, that one day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

The 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.

And 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, suffering from excessive heat, shall be dissolved, and the earth and the works in it shall be burned down.

But in accordance with His promise we expectantly await new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.

So, beloved, since you are looking forward to these things, be diligent and make every effort to be found by Him [at His return] spotless and blameless, in peace [that is, inwardly calm with a sense of spiritual well-being and confidence, having lived a life of obedience to Him].

And be certain that the long waiting of the Lord is for salvation; even as our brother Paul has said in his letters to you, from the wisdom which was given to him;

Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness.