By these he has granted his promises to us, precious and splendid; so that through them you may become partners of the divine nature, now that you have escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

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

(for that righteous man, living among them, tormented his righteous soul in seeing and hearing, day after day, their lawless deeds),

then be sure that the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation, and to keep the wicked (who are even now enduring punishment) for the "Day of Judgment";

They have eyes full of harlots, eyes that cannot stop sinning. They entice unsteady souls. Their heart is trained in greed. They are an accursed generation.

For speaking great swelling words of vanity, they entangle, by their lasciviousness, in the lusts of the flesh, those who are just about to escape from the men that live in misconduct.

I want you to recollect the words that were foretold by the holy prophets, and the command of your Lord and Saviour, given you through your apostles.

Know this first, that mockers will come in the last days, in their mockery, men who walk the way of their own lusts

and say, "Where is the promise of His coming? For since the day that our fathers fell asleep everything continues as it was from the beginning of the creation."

For they willingly ignore the fact that there were heaven, from of old, and an earth formed out of water and through water, by the word of God;

and that by the same means the world which then existed was destroyed by a deluge of water.

But the heavens and earth that now are, by the same word of God, have been reserved for fire, and are being kept for the Day of Judgment, and for the destruction of ungodly men.

Do not forget this one thing, beloved, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

The Lord does not loiter over his promise, as some men esteem loitering; but he is longsuffering toward you, not purposing that any should perish, but that all should pass on to repentance.

But the Day of the Lord will come like a thief; and on that Day the heavens will vanish with a crash, the heavenly bodies will melt with fervent heat, and the earth and all its works will be burned up.

And so, beloved, since you are looking for these things, continually give diligence that you may be found in peace, unspotted and blameless in his sight.