Bible (American Standard)/2 Peter

The Second Epistle General of Peter
==Chapter 1==
 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: 
 Grace to you and peace be multiplied in the knowledge of God and
of Jesus our Lord; 
 seeing that his divine power hath
granted unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness,
through the knowledge of him that called us by his own glory and
virtue; 
 whereby he hath granted unto us his precious and
exceeding great promises; that through these ye may become
partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the
corruption that is in that world by lust. 
 Yea, and for
this very cause adding on your part all diligence, in your faith
supply virtue; and in [your] virtue knowledge; 
 and in
[your] knowledge self-control; and in [your] self-control
patience; and in [your] patience godliness; 
 and in [your]
godliness brotherly kindness; and in [your] brotherly kindness
love. 
 For if these things are yours and abound, they make
you to be not idle nor unfruitful unto the knowledge of our Lord
Jesus Christ. 
 For he that lacketh these things is blind,
seeing only what is near, having forgotten the cleansing from
his old sins. 
 Wherefore, brethren, give the more
diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do
these things, ye shall never stumble: 
 for thus shall be
richly supplied unto you the entrance into the eternal kingdom
of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 
 Wherefore I shall
be ready always to put you in remembrance of these things,
though ye know them, and are established in the truth which is
with [you]. 
 And I think it right, as long as I am in this
tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance; 
 knowing that the putting off of my tabernacle cometh swiftly,
even as our Lord Jesus Christ signified unto me. 
 Yea, I
will give diligence that at every time ye may be able after my
decease to call these things to remembrance. 
 For we did
not follow cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto 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 there was borne such a voice to him
by the Majestic Glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well
pleased: 
 and this voice we [ourselves] heard borne out of
heaven, when we were with him in the holy mount. 
 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: 
 knowing this first, that no prophecy of scripture is of private
interpretation. 
 For no prophecy ever came by the will of
man: but men spake from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit.
==Chapter 2==
 But there arose false prophets also among the people,
as among you also there shall be false teachers, who shall
privily bring in destructive heresies, denying even the Master
that bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.
 And many shall follow their lascivious doings; by reason
of whom the way of the truth shall be evil spoken of. 
 And
in covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise
of you: whose sentence now from of old lingereth not, and their
destruction slumbereth not. 
 For if God spared not angels
when they sinned, but cast them down to hell, and committed them
to pits of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; 
 and
spared not the ancient world, but preserved Noah with seven
others, a preacher of righteousness, when he brought a flood
upon the world of the ungodly; 
 and turning the cities of
Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned them with an overthrow,
having made them an example unto those that should live ungodly;
 and delivered righteous Lot, sore distressed by the
lascivious life of the wicked 
 (for that righteous man
dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed [his]
righteous soul from day to day with [their] lawless deeds):
 the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of
temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment unto
the day of judgment; 
 but chiefly them that walk after the
flesh in the lust of defilement, and despise dominion. Daring,
self-willed, they tremble not to rail at dignities: 
 whereas angels, though greater in might and power, bring not a
railing judgment against them before the Lord. 
 But these,
as creatures without reason, born mere animals to be taken and
destroyed, railing in matters whereof they are ignorant, shall
in their destroying surely be destroyed, 
 suffering wrong
as the hire of wrongdoing; [men] that count it pleasure to
revel in the day-time, spots and blemishes, revelling in their
deceivings while they feast with you; 
 having eyes full of
adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; enticing unstedfast
souls; having a heart exercised in covetousness; children of
cursing; 
 forsaking the right way, they went astray,
having followed the way of Balaam the [son] of Beor, who loved
the hire of wrongdoing; 
 but he was rebuked for his own
transgression: a dumb ass spake with man's voice and stayed the
madness of the prophet. 
 These are springs without water,
and mists driven by a storm; for whom the blackness of darkness
hath been reserved. 
 For, uttering great swelling [words]
of vanity, they entice in the lusts of the flesh, by
lasciviousness, those who are just escaping from them that live
in error; 
 promising them liberty, while they themselves
are bondservants of corruption; for of whom a man is overcome,
of the same is he also brought into bondage. 
 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.
 It has happened unto them according to the true proverb,
The dog turning to his own vomit again, and the sow that had
washed to wallowing in the mire.
==Chapter 3==
 This is now, beloved, the second epistle that I write
unto you; and in both of them I stir up your sincere mind by
putting you in remembrance; 
 that ye should remember the
words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and the
commandments of the Lord and Saviour through your apostles:
 knowing this first, that in the last days mockers shall
come with mockery, 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 compacted out of water and amidst 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 forget not 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 slack
concerning his promise, as some count slackness; but is
longsuffering to you-ward, 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 which the heavens shall
pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall be
dissolved with fervent heat, and the earth and the works that
are therein shall be burned up. 
 Seeing that these things
are thus all to be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to
be in [all] holy living and godliness, 
 looking for and
earnestly desiring the coming of the day of God, by reason of
which the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the
elements shall melt with fervent heat? 
 But, according to
his promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein
dwelleth righteousness. 
 Wherefore, beloved, seeing that
ye look for these things, give diligence that ye may be found in
peace, without spot and blameless in his sight. 
 And
account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as
our beloved brother Paul also, according to the wisdom given to
him, wrote unto you; 
 as also in all [his] epistles,
speaking in them of these things; wherein are some things hard
to be understood, which the ignorant and unstedfast wrest, as
[they do] also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.
 Ye therefore, beloved, knowing [these things] beforehand,
beware lest, being carried away with the error of the wicked, ye
fall from your own stedfastness. 
 But grow in the grace
and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him [be]
the glory both now and for ever. Amen.