and thus we have gained fresh confirmation of the prophetic word. Pray attend to that word; it shines like a lamp within a darksome spot, till the Day dawns and the daystar rises within your hearts ??20 understanding this, at the outset, that no prophetic scripture allows a man to interpret it by himself;

But those people! ??like irrational animals, creatures of mere instinct, born for capture and corruption, they scoff at what they are ignorant of; and like animals they will suffer corruption and ruin,

they have gone wrong by leaving the straight road, by following the road of Balaam son of Bosor, who liked the profits of evil-doing ??16 but he got reproved for his malpractice: a dumb ass spoke with human voice and checked the prophet's infatuation.

Beloved, you must not ignore this one fact, that with the Lord a single day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a single day.

The day of the Lord will come like a thief, when the heavens will vanish with crackling roar, the stars will be set ablaze and melt, the earth and all its works will disappear.