For his power divine has granted to us everything needful for life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and virtue.

For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.

Yea, and for this very cause adding on your part all diligence, in your faith supply virtue; and in your virtue knowledge;

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.

For he that lacketh these things is blind, seeing only what is near, having forgotten the cleansing from his old sins.

Wherefore, brethren, give the more diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never stumble:

for thus shall be richly supplied unto you the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

For this reason I will be ready at all times to keep your memory of these things awake, though you have the knowledge of them now and are well based in your present faith.

But I consider [it] right, for as long as I am in this habitation, to stir you up by a reminder,

since I know that the time for me to strike tent comes swiftly on, even as our Lord Jesus Christ pointed out to me.

And also I will endeavor for you to always have, after my departure, the memory of these things to apply.

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.

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:

and we [actually] heard this voice made from heaven when we were together with Him on the holy mountain.

And so the words of the prophets are made more certain; and it is well for you to give attention to them as to a light shining in a dark place, till the dawn comes and the morning star is seen in your hearts;

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 they will exploit you in greed with fabricated words, whose judgment is not idle for long, and their destruction will not slumber.

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;

since he condemn'd the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha to an entire subversion, and reduc'd them to ashes, to make them serve for examples to future impiety:

And just Lot, being harassed by the licentiousness of the lawless for the turning back, he delivered:

(for that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their lawless deeds):

the Lord knows how to rescue the pious out of temptation, and to hold in reserve unrighteous men being cut off for a day of judgment.

and especially those who are abandoned to sensuality--craving, as they do, for polluted things, and scorning control. Fool-hardy and self-willed, they do not tremble when speaking evil of glorious beings;

But these men, like irrational beasts of nature, having been born for capture and destruction, speaking evil at which things they do not understand, will be destroyed in their corruption,

For the evil which overtakes them is the reward of their evil-doing: such men take their pleasure in the delights of the flesh even in the daytime; they are like the marks of a disease, like poisoned wounds among you, feasting together with you in joy;

They have eyes full of adultery, constantly looking for sin, enticing and luring away unstable souls. Having hearts trained in greed, [they are] children of a curse.

Turning out of the true way, they have gone wandering in error, after the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who was pleased to take payment for wrongdoing;

but he was rebuked for his own transgression: a dumb ass spake with man's voice and stayed the madness of the prophet.

These are springs without water, and mists driven by a storm; for whom the blackness of darkness hath been reserved.

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;

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.

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.

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.

To remember the fore-spoken declarations made by the holy prophets, and the commandment of the Lord and Saviour, by your apostles.

Knowing this first, that in the last of the days shall mockers come for deceiving, going according to their own eager desires,

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.

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 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 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.

As for that day of the Lord, it will advance like a thief: then the heavens will rush with violence, the boiling elements will be dissolved, and the earth with all its contents, shall be burnt away.

Seeing then that all these things are coming to such an end, what sort of persons is it right for you to be, in all holy behaviour and righteousness,

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?

But, according to his promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.

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.

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;

For this reason, my loved ones, having knowledge of these things before they take place, take care that you are not turned away by the error of the uncontrolled, so falling from your true faith.

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.