Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained a like precious faith with us in the righteousness of our God and the'saviour Jesus Christ:

Because of which, the precious and greatest promises have been given to us, so that through these ye might become companions of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption in the world in lust.

But for this very reason also, using therewith all diligence, in your faith have also virtue, in virtue knowledge,

For if you have these things in good measure, they will make you fertile and full of fruit in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

For this reason, my brothers, take all the more care to make your selection and approval certain; for if you do these things you will never have a fall:

and thus you will have a free admittance 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.

For I am conscious that in a short time I will have to put off this tent of flesh, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me.

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

For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.

For he received from God the Father honour and glory, such a voice being uttered to him by the excellent glory: This is my beloved Son, in whom I have found my delight;

And we have the word of prophecy made more sure; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day-star arise in your hearts:

But, above all, remember that no prophecy in Scripture will be found to have come from the prophet's own prompting;

And a great number will go with them in their evil ways, through whom the true way will have a bad name.

And through greedy desires and deceptive words they will exploit you [for evil purposes]. But the judgment that they have had coming for a long time, will not delay, but will eventually awaken [i.e., arrive] to bring destruction upon them.

For if God did not have pity for the angels who did evil, but sent them down into hell, to be kept in chains of eternal night till they were judged;

And did not have mercy on the world which then was, but only kept safe Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when he let loose the waters over the world of the evil-doers;

But specially those who go after the unclean desires of the flesh, and make sport of authority. Ready to take chances, uncontrolled, they have no fear of saying evil of those in high places:

But these men, like beasts without reason, whose natural use is to be taken and put to death, crying out against things of which they have no knowledge, will undergo that same destruction which they are designing for others;

suffering wrong as the wage of wrong which they have done. These are men who count it pleasure to carouse in open daylight; they are spots and blemishes reveling in their deceit, even while they are feasting with you.

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.

They have forsaken the right way; they have lost their way, and followed the road of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the wages of wrong-doing.

These men are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm, for whom the utter depths of darkness have been reserved.

For, great swelling words of vanity, uttering, they entice with carnal covetings - in wanton ways - them who are, well-nigh, escaping from the men who, in error, have their behaviour;

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.

This is the second letter, dearly beloved, that I have already written to you, in both of which I am trying by reminders to stir up your unsullied minds

to remember the words which have been spoken hitherto by the holy prophets, and the commandment of the Lord and Saviour by your apostles:

and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming [what has become of it]? For ever since the fathers fell asleep [in death], all things have continued [exactly] as they did from the beginning of creation.”

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, in the sense in which some think of slowness, but He is really dealing patiently with you, because He is not willing for any to perish but for all to have an opportunity to repent?

In accordance with His promise we are expecting new heavens and a new earth, in which uprightness will have its permanent home.

So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to have the Lord find you at peace and without spot or fault.

So, dearly beloved, since you have been forewarned, you must always be on your guard against being led astray by the errors of lawless men, and so against falling away from your present firmness;

But be increased in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. May he have glory now and for ever. So be it.

That which was from the beginning, that which we have heard, that which we have seen with our eyes, that which we beheld, and our hands handled, concerning the Word of life

(and the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare unto you the life, the eternal life , which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us);

that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you also, that ye also may have fellowship with us: yea, and our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ:

And this is the message which we have heard from him and announce unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in the darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:

but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

If we say openly that we have done wrong, he is upright and true to his word, giving us forgiveness of sins and making us clean from all evil.

If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

My little children, these things write I unto you that ye may not sin. And if any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:

This is how we may know that we have come to know Him, by always keeping his commandments.

The man who says, I have knowledge of him, and does not keep his laws, is false, and there is nothing true in him:

Dearly beloved, I am not writing you a new command, but an old one that you have had from the beginning. That old command is the message that you have heard.

I write to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven you through his name.

I write unto you, fathers, because ye know him who is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the evil one. I have written unto you, little children, because ye know the Father.

I have written unto you, fathers, because ye know him who is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the evil one.

Have no love for the world or for the things which are in the world. If any man has love for the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

Little children, it is the last hour: and as ye heard that antichrist cometh, even now have there arisen many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last hour.

They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us: but they went out , that they might be made manifest that they all are not of us.

And ye have an anointing from the Holy One, and ye know all the things.

I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and because no lie is of the truth.

Every man who denies the Son, also does not have the Father.

Let what you have heard from the beginning continue to live in your hearts; if you do, you will always remain in union with the Son and the Father.

These things have I written unto you concerning them that would lead you astray.

And for you, the anointing that ye received from him abides in you, and ye have no need that any man teach you, but as the same anointing teaches you about all things, and is TRUE and is no lie, and just as it taught you, ye will a

And now, my little children, abide in him; that, if he shall be manifested, we may have boldness, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.

If you have knowledge that he is upright, it is clear to you that everyone who does righteousness is his offspring.

beloved, now, children of God are we, and it was not yet manifested what we shall be, and we have known that if he may be manifested, like him we shall be, because we shall see him as he is;

And you have knowledge that he came to take away sin: and in him there is no sin.

Because this is the word which was given to you from the first, that we are to have love for one another;

We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not abideth in death.

Anyone who keeps on hating his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer can have eternal life remaining in him.

Hereby, have we come to understand love: in that, He, for us, his life laid down; and, we, ought, for the brethren, our lives to lay down.

But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?

And this is how we will know that we are following [God's] truth, and will have assurance [of it] in our hearts and before God [as well].

When our heart says that we have done wrong; because God is greater than our heart, and has knowledge of all things.

Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, we have boldness toward God;

And this is his law, that we have faith in the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love for one another, even as he said to us.

The one who habitually keeps His commandments [obeying His word and following His precepts, abides and] remains in Him, and He in him. By this we know and have the proof that He [really] abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us [as a gift].

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but examine the spirits, whether they are of God, because many FALSE prophets have gone out into the world.

By this you may have knowledge of the Spirit of God: every spirit which says that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God:

and every spirit that confesseth not Jesus is not of God: and this is the'spirit of the antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it cometh; and now it is in the world already.

Ye are of God, my little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.

My loved ones, let us have love for one another: because love is of God, and everyone who has love is a child of God and has knowledge of God.

And the love of God was made clear to us when he sent his only Son into the world so that we might have life through him.

Herein, is love: not that, we, have loved God, but that, he, loved us, and sent forth his Son, as a propitiation concerning our sins.

My loved ones, if God had such love for us, it is right for us to have love for one another.

No man has ever seen God: if we have love for one another, God is in us and his love is made complete in us:

And we have beheld and bear witness that the Father hath sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.

And we know and have believed the love which God hath in us. God is love; and he that abideth in love abideth in God, and God abideth in him.

Herein is love made perfect with us, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as he is, even so are we in this world.

There is no [reason for] fear if one [really] loves, but a complete love removes fear [from us] because fear produces punishment [i.e., mental anxiety], and the person who is [always] afraid does not have a complete love.

We have the power of loving, because he first had love for us.

If a man says, I have love for God, and has hate for his brother, his words are false: for how is the man who has no love for his brother whom he has seen, able to have love for God whom he has not seen?

And this commandment have we from him, that he who loveth God love his brother also.

In this way, we are certain that we have love for the children of God, when we have love for God and keep his laws.

Anything which comes from God is able to overcome the world: and the power by which we have overcome the world is our faith.

He who has the Son has the life. He who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.

These things have I written unto you, that ye may know that ye have eternal life, even unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God.

And this is the boldness which we have toward him, that, if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us:

and if we know that he heareth us whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions which we have asked of him.

We have known that every one who hath been begotten of God doth not sin, but he who was begotten of God doth keep himself, and the evil one doth not touch him;

we have known that of God we are, and the whole world in the evil doth lie;

And we [have seen and] know [by personal experience] that the Son of God has [actually] come [to this world], and has given us understanding and insight so that we may [progressively and personally] know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true—in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.

I, a ruler in the church, send word to the noble sister who is of God's selection, and to her children, for whom I have true love; and not only I, but all who have knowledge of what is true;