2 Peter

Greeting

1 Simeon¹ Peter, a servant² and apostle of Jesus Christ,

To those who have obtained ^aa faith of equal standing with ours ^bby the righteousness of our ^cGod and Savior Jesus Christ:

2 ^dMay grace and peace be multiplied to you ^ein the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

Confirm Your Calling and Election

3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him ^fwho called us to³ his own glory and excellence,⁴ 4 by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become ^gpartakers of the divine nature, ^hhaving escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. 5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith ⁱwith virtue,⁵ and virtue ^jwith knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control ^kwith steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, 7 and godliness ^lwith brotherly affection, and brotherly affection ^mwith love. 8 For if these qualities⁶ are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or ⁿunfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he ^ois blind, having forgotten that he was ^pcleansed from his former sins. 10 Therefore, brothers,⁷ be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and ^qelection, for if you practice these qualities ^ryou will never fall. 11 For in this way there will be richly provided for you ^san entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

12 Therefore I intend ^talways to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in ^uthe truth that you have. 13 I think it right, as long as I am in this ^vbody,^{8 w}to stir you up by way of reminder, 14 ^xsince I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, ^yas our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. 15 And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things.

Christ’s Glory and the Prophetic Word

16 For we did not follow ^zcleverly devised ^amyths when we made known to you ^bthe power and ^ccoming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but ^dwe were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17 For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, ^e“This is my beloved Son,⁹ with whom I am well pleased,” 18 we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on ^fthe holy mountain. 19 And ^gwe have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention ^has to a lamp shining in a dark place, until ⁱthe day ^jdawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, 20 knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. 21 For ^kno prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God ^las they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

False Prophets and Teachers

2 But ^mfalse prophets also arose among the people, ⁿjust as there will be false teachers among you, who will ^osecretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master ^pwho bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. 2 And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth ^qwill be blasphemed. 3 And ^rin their greed they will exploit you ^swith false words. ^tTheir condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.

4 For if God did not spare ^uangels when they sinned, but ^vcast them into hell¹ and committed them to chains² of gloomy darkness ^wto be kept until the judgment; 5 if he did not spare the ancient world, but ^xpreserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought ^ya flood upon the world of the ungodly; 6 if by ^zturning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, ^amaking them an example of ^bwhat is going to happen to the ungodly;³ 7 and ^cif he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked 8 (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, ^dhe was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard); 9 then ^ethe Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials,⁴ and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, 10 and especially ^fthose who indulge⁵ in the lust of defiling passion and ^gdespise authority.

Bold and willful, they do not tremble ^gas they blaspheme the glorious ones, 11 ^hwhereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a blasphemous judgment against them before the Lord. 12 ⁱBut these, like irrational animals, ^jcreatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their destruction, 13 suffering wrong as ^kthe wage for their wrongdoing. They count it pleasure ^lto revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions,⁶ while ^mthey feast with you. 14 They have eyes full of adultery,^{7 n}insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts ^otrained in greed. ^pAccursed children! 15 Forsaking the right way, ^qthey have gone astray. They have followed ^rthe way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved ^sgain from wrongdoing, 16 but was rebuked for his own transgression; ^ta speechless donkey spoke with human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.

17 ^uThese are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm. ^vFor them the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved. 18 For, ^wspeaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely ^xescaping from those who live in error. 19 They promise them ^yfreedom, ^zbut they themselves are slaves⁸ of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved. 20 For if, ^aafter they have escaped the defilements of the world ^bthrough the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, ^cthe last state has become worse for them than the first. 21 For ^dit would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from ^ethe holy commandment delivered to them. 22 What the true proverb says has happened to them: “The ^fdog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.”

The Day of the Lord Will Come

3 This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them ^gI am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, 2 ^hthat you should remember the predictions of ⁱthe holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, 3 knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come ^jin the last days with scoffing, ^kfollowing their own sinful desires. 4 ^lThey will say, “Where is the promise of ^mhis coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” 5 For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth ⁿwas formed out of water and through water ^oby the word of God, 6 and that by means of these the world that then existed ^pwas deluged with water and ^qperished. 7 But by the same word ^rthe heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and ^sdestruction of the ungodly.

8 But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and ^ta thousand years as one day. 9 ^uThe Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise ^vas some count slowness, but ^wis patient toward you,^{1 x}not wishing that any should perish, but ^ythat all should reach repentance. 10 But ^zthe day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then ^athe heavens will pass away with a roar, and ^bthe heavenly bodies² will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.³

11 Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, ^cwhat sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, 12 ^dwaiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and ^ethe heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! 13 But according to his promise we are waiting for ^fnew heavens and a new earth ^gin which righteousness dwells.

Final Words

14 ^hTherefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him ⁱwithout spot or ^jblemish, and ^kat peace. 15 And count ^lthe patience of our Lord as salvation, just as ^mour beloved brother Paul also wrote to you ⁿaccording to the wisdom given him, 16 as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. ^oThere are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, ^pas they do the other Scriptures. 17 You therefore, beloved, ^qknowing this beforehand, ^rtake care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. 18 But ^sgrow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. ^tTo him be the glory both now and to the day of ^ueternity. Amen.

1 John

The Word of Life

1 ^aThat which was ^bfrom the beginning, ^cwhich we have heard, ^dwhich we have seen with our eyes, ^ewhich we looked upon and ^fhave touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— 2 ^gthe life ^hwas made manifest, and we have seen it, and ⁱtestify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, ^awhich was with the Father and ^hwas made manifest to us— 3 ^cthat which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed ^jour fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4 And we are writing these things so ^kthat our¹ joy may be complete.

Walking in the Light

5 ^lThis is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that ^mGod is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 ⁿIf we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and ^odo not practice the truth. 7 But ^pif we walk in the light, ^qas he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and ^rthe blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 ^sIf we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and ^tthe truth is not in us. 9 ^uIf we confess our sins, he is ^vfaithful and just to forgive us our sins and ^rto cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, ^wwe make him a liar, and ^xhis word is not in us.

Christ Our Advocate

2 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, ^ywe have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 2 ^zHe is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but ^aalso for the sins of the whole world. 3 And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we ^bkeep his commandments. 4 Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments ^cis a liar, and ^cthe truth is not in him, 5 but whoever ^dkeeps his word, in him truly ^ethe love of God is perfected. ^fBy this we may know that we are in him: 6 whoever says he ^gabides in him ^hought to walk in the same way in which he walked.

The New Commandment

7 Beloved, I am writing you ⁱno new commandment, but ^jan old commandment ^kthat you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard. 8 At the same time, it is ^la new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because^{1 m}the darkness is passing away and ⁿthe true light is already shining. 9 Whoever says he is in the light and ^ohates his brother is still in darkness. 10 Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him² there is no ^pcause for stumbling. 11 But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and ^qwalks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

Do Not Love the World

15 ^vDo not love the world or the things in the world. ^wIf anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—^xthe desires of the flesh and ^ythe desires of the eyes and pride of life³—is not from the Father but is from the world. 17 And ^zthe world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

Warning Concerning Antichrists

18 Children, ^ait is the last hour, and as you have heard that ^bantichrist is coming, so now ^cmany antichrists have come. ^dTherefore we know that it is the last hour. 19 ^eThey went out from us, but they were not of us; for ^fif they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, ^gthat it might become plain that they all are not of us. 20 But you have been ^hanointed by ⁱthe Holy One, and ^jyou all have knowledge.⁴ 21 I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth. 22 Who is the liar but ^khe who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is ^bthe antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. 23 ^lNo one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also. 24 Let ^mwhat you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then ⁿyou too will abide in the Son and in the Father. 25 And this is the promise that he made to us⁵—^oeternal life.

26 I write these things to you about ^pthose who are trying to deceive you. 27 But ^qthe anointing that you received from him abides in you, and ^ryou have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and ^sis true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him.

Children of God

28 And now, little children, abide in him, so that ^twhen he appears ^uwe may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his ^vcoming. 29 If you know that ^whe is righteous, you may be sure that ^xeveryone who practices righteousness has been born of him.