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2 Peter 1 |
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Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who
have obtained a like precious faith with us in the righteousness
of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ:
Grace to you and peace be multiplied in the knowledge of God and
of Jesus our Lord,
seeing that his divine power has granted to us all things that
pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who
called us by his own glory and virtue;
by which he has granted to us his precious and exceedingly great
promises; that through these you may become partakers of the
divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the
world by lust.
Yes, and for this very cause adding on your part all diligence,
in your faith supply moral excellence; and in moral excellence,
knowledge;
and in knowledge, self-control; and in self-control patience;
and in patience godliness;
and in godliness brotherly affection; and in brotherly
affection, love.
For if these things are yours and abound, they make you to be
not idle nor unfruitful to the knowledge of our Lord Jesus
Christ.
For he who lacks these things is blind, seeing only what is
near, having forgotten the cleansing from his old sins.
Therefore, brothers, be more diligent to
make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things,
you will never stumble.
For thus you will be richly supplied with the entrance into the
eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Therefore I will not be negligent to remind you of these things,
though you know them, and are established in the present truth.
I think it right, as long as I am in this tent, to stir you up
by reminding you;
knowing that the putting off of my tent comes swiftly, even as
our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me.
Yes, I will make every effort that you may always be able to
remember these things even after my departure.
For we did not follow cunningly devised fables, when we made
known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but
we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
For he received from God the Father honor and glory, when the
voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved
Son, in whom I am well pleased.”*
We heard this voice come out of heaven when we were with him on
the holy mountain.
We have the more sure word of prophecy; and you do well that you
heed it, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day
dawns, and the morning star arises in your hearts:
knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of private
interpretation.
For no prophecy ever came by the will of man: but holy men of
God spoke, being moved by the Holy Spirit.
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1:10 The word for “brothers”
here and where context allows may also be correctly translated
“brothers and sisters” or “siblings.”
1:17 Matthew 17:5; Mark
9:7; Luke 9:35
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2 Peter 2 |
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But false prophets also arose among the people, as false
teachers will also be among you, who will secretly bring in
destructive heresies, denying even the Master who bought them,
bringing on themselves swift destruction.
Many will follow their immoral ways, and as
a result, the way of the truth will be maligned.
In covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words:
whose sentence now from of old doesn’t linger, and their
destruction will not slumber.
For if God didn’t spare angels when they sinned, but cast them
down to Tartarus, and committed them to pits
of darkness, to be reserved for judgment;
and didn’t spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah with
seven others, a preacher of righteousness, when he brought a
flood on the world of the ungodly;
and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes,
condemned them to destruction, having made them an example to
those who would live ungodly;
and delivered righteous Lot, who was very distressed by the
lustful life of the wicked
(for that righteous man dwelling among them, was tormented in
his righteous soul from day to day with seeing and hearing
lawless deeds):
the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation and to
keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment;
but chiefly those who walk after the flesh in the lust of
defilement, and despise authority. Daring, self-willed, they are
not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries;
whereas angels, though greater in might and power, don’t bring a
railing judgment against them before the Lord.
But these, as unreasoning creatures, born natural animals to be
taken and destroyed, speaking evil in matters about which they
are ignorant, will in their destroying surely be destroyed,
receiving the wages of unrighteousness; people who count it
pleasure to revel in the daytime, spots and blemishes, reveling
in their deceit while they feast with you;
having eyes full of adultery, and who can’t cease from sin;
enticing unsettled souls; having a heart trained in greed;
children of cursing;
forsaking the right way, they went astray, having followed the
way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of
wrongdoing;
but he was rebuked for his own disobedience. A mute donkey spoke
with a man’s voice and stopped the madness of the prophet.
These are wells without water, clouds driven by a storm; for
whom the blackness of darkness has been reserved forever.
For, uttering great swelling words of emptiness, they entice in
the lusts of the flesh, by licentiousness, those who are indeed
escaping from those who live in error;
promising them liberty, while they themselves are bondservants
of corruption; for a man is brought into bondage by whoever
overcomes him.
For if, after they have escaped the defilement of the world
through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they
are again entangled in it and overcome, the last state has
become worse for them than the first.
For it would be better for them not to have known the way of
righteousness, than, after knowing it, to turn back from the
holy commandment delivered to them.
But it has happened to them according to the true proverb, “The
dog turns to his own vomit again,”*
and “the sow that has washed to wallowing in the mire.”
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2:2 TR reads “destructive”
instead of “immoral”
2:4 Tartarus is another name
for Hell
2:22 Proverbs 26:11
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2 Peter 3 |
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This is now, beloved, the second letter that I have written to
you; and in both of them I stir up your sincere mind by
reminding you;
that you should remember the words which were spoken before by
the holy prophets, and the commandments of us, the apostles of
the Lord and Savior:
knowing this first, that in the last days mockers will come,
walking after their own lusts,
and saying, “Where is the promise of his coming? For, from the
day that the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they
were from the beginning of the creation.”
For this they willfully forget, that there were heavens from of
old, and an earth formed out of water and amid water, by the
word of God;
by which means the world that then was, being overflowed with
water, perished.
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.
But don’t 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 is not slow concerning his promise, as some count
slowness; but is patient with us, not wishing that any should
perish, but that all should come to repentance.
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in
which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the
elements will be dissolved with fervent heat, and the earth and
the works that are in it will be burned up.
Therefore since all these things will be destroyed like this,
what kind of people ought you to be in holy living and
godliness,
looking for and earnestly desiring the coming of the day of God,
which will cause the burning heavens to be dissolved, and the
elements will melt with fervent heat?
But, according to his promise, we look for new heavens and a new
earth, in which righteousness dwells.
Therefore, beloved, seeing that you look for these things, be
diligent to be found in peace, without blemish and blameless in
his sight.
Regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; even as our
beloved brother Paul also, according to the wisdom given to him,
wrote to you;
as also in all of his letters, speaking in them of these things.
In those, there are some things that are hard to understand,
which the ignorant and unsettled twist, as they also do to the
other Scriptures, to their own destruction.
You therefore, beloved, knowing these things beforehand, beware,
lest being carried away with the error of the wicked, you fall
from your own steadfastness.
But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ. To him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.
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