SIMON PETER, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained faith, equally as precious as our own, in the plan of justification revealed by our God and Savior Jesus Christ:

through which things very great and precious favors that were promised have been given us, that through these you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through desire:

But I will earnestly endeavor that you may be able, even after my decease, to have these things always in remembrance.

and we have the prophetic word better established. You do well to attend to this, as to a lamp that shines in a dark place, till the day dawn, and the morning star arise in your hearts;

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

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 these, and overcome by them, the last state of such is worse than the first.

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