3:1  This constitutes now, beloved, the second letter I write to you in which I stir up your sincere mind by way of reminder,

3:2  that you should remember the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken by your apostles.

3:3   Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts,

3:4  and saying, " Where do we find the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it had from the beginning of creation."

3:5   For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the He formed the earth out of water and by water,

3:6   through which He destroyed the world at that time, flooding it with water.

3:7   But by His word God has reserved the present heavens and earth for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.

3:8  But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day resembles a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.

3:9   The Lord does not delay about His promise, as some count slowness, but shows patience toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.

3:10  But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will dissolve with intense heat, and the earth and its works will burn up.

3:11  Since God will destroy all these things in this way, what sort of people ought you aspire to in holy conduct and godliness,

3:12   looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will suffer destruction by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat!

3:13  But according to His promise we look for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.

3:14   Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, diligently strive to have Him find you in peace, spotless and blameless,

3:15   and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you,

3:16  as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which we find some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.

3:17   You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, keep on your guard so that you become unduly influences by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness,

3:18   but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ To Him we recognize the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.