[This letter is being written by] Simon Peter, a slave and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have received a faith just as precious as ours, through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.

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.

And through this he has given us the hope of great rewards highly to be valued; so that by them we might have our part in God's being, and be made free from the destruction which is in the world through the desires of the flesh.

for these things being to you and abounding, do make you neither inert nor unfruitful in regard to the acknowledging of our Lord Jesus Christ,

For [the one] for whom these [things] [are] not present is blind, being nearsighted, {having forgotten the cleansing} of his former sins.

So, brothers, be diligent to make sure of your calling and election [i.e., of your status as being selected by God], for when you do, you will never stumble [and fall away from God].

Therefore I will be about to always remind you concerning these things, even though knowing them, and being established in the present truth.

But I consider it the right thing to do, as long as I am in this "tent" [Note: This is an allusion to his still being alive], to stir up your memory [of these things],

For we did not make known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ [by] following ingeniously concocted myths, but [by] being eyewitnesses of that one's majesty.

for having received from God the Father honour and glory, such a voice being borne to him by the excellent glory: 'This is My Son -- the beloved, in whom I was well pleased;'

This voice we heard when it came from heaven, being with him in the holy mount.

So we have the prophetic word made more certain. You do well to pay [close] attention to it as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and light breaks through the gloom and the morning star arises in your hearts.

Being conscious in the first place that no man by himself may give a special sense to the words of the prophets.

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

And many people will follow their unrestrained, indecent conduct, which will result in the true way [of God] being spoken against.

For if God did not spare sinning angels, but thrust them down into Tartarus, and delivered them into chains of darkness, being reserved to judgment.

and he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction, being reduced to ashes, having made an example of men who were going to be irreverent,

and saved the upright Lot who was so distressed by the immoral conduct of unprincipled men??8 for as long as that upright man lived among them, day after day his upright soul was tormented by what he saw and heard of their lawless actions??9 then the Lord knows how to rescue God-fearing people from trial and to punish wrongdoers while they are being kept for the Day of Judgment,

For he being righteous and dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds -

The Lord hath known to rescue pious ones out of temptation, and unrighteous ones to a day of judgment, being punished, to keep,

especially those who yield to their physical nature and indulge in passions that defile them, and despise authority. Rash, headstrong men! They stand in no awe of majesty, but deride beings

against whom even angels far superior to these beings in strength and power bring no abusive charge before the Lord.

These, however, as unreasoning creatures that have been bred as being, by nature, for capture and destruction, in the things they are ignorant of, uttering defamation, in their spoiling, shall also be made a spoil, -

being harmed [as the] wages of unrighteousness. Considering reveling in the daytime a pleasure, [they are] stains and blemishes, carousing in their deceitful pleasures [when they] feast together with you,

Their very eyes are full of adultery--being eyes which never cease from sin. These men set traps to catch unstedfast souls, their own hearts being well trained in greed. They are fore-doomed to God's curse!

liberty to them promising, themselves being servants of the corruption, for by whom any one hath been overcome, to this one also he hath been brought to servitude,

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,

Above all, understand this: In the last days blatant scoffers will come, being propelled by their own evil urges

For this is hidden from them by their willing it, that the heavens were of old, and the earth out of the water, and through water, being held together by the Word of God,

by which means the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished.

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.

The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some people understand slowness, but is being patient with you. He does not want anyone to perish, but wants everyone to repent.

The day of the Lord will come like a thief; on that day the heavens will pass away with a roar, the heavenly bodies will be destroyed by being burned up, and the earth with all its works will melt away.

All these, then, being dissolved, what kind of persons doth it behove you to be in holy behaviours and pious acts?

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?

Wherefore, beloved, seeing that you expect such things, earnestly strive, by being spotless and blameless, to be found by him in peace:

You therefore, beloved, knowing these things beforehand, beware, lest being carried away with the error of the wicked, you fall from your own steadfastness.