Humble yourselves, therefore, to the mighty hand of God, so that in time he may exalt you. Cast all your trouble upon him, because he cares for you. Be sober, be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, prowls like a lion, roaring and looking for what he may devour. Stand up against him, firm in your faith, knowing that the s^e sufferings are befalling your brothers in the world. But the God of all grace, who called you to his everlasting glory in Christ, will, after you have suffered a little while, himself make you whole and firm and strong. To him be the power forever. Amen.
Through Silvanus, a faithful brother as I believe, I have written you thus briefly, appealing to you and testifying that this is the true grace of God. Stand fast by it.
My fellows among the chosen in Babylon send you greetings, as does Mark my son. Greet each other with the kiss of love.
Peace to all of you who are in Christ.
The Second General Letter
of Peter
ISIMON PETER, SLAVE AND APOSTLE of Jesus Christ, to those who have been granted faith like ours in the righteousness of our God and savior Jesus Christ: may grace and peace be multiplied for you in the recognition of God and Jesus our Lord. His divine power has bestowed upon us everything that leads to life and piety through the knowledge of him who called us in glory and virtue. By this the greatest and most precious promises have been given to us; so that you may become sharers in the divine nature, escaping the world's corruption that comes through lust. For this very reason, bringing all your energy to bear, provide, by your faith, virtue; and by virtue understanding, by understanding continence, by continence steadfastness, by steadfastness piety, by piety brotherliness, by brotherliness love. All these qualities, being yours and in abundance, will cause you to be not useless or unproductive toward the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ; but one who does not have them is myopic and blind, forgetful of how he has been purified from his former sins. For this reason, brothers, try the more strenuously to make sure of your calling and your election. By so doing you cannot ever fail, for thus your entrance into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ will be generously provided for you.
So I shall constantly remind you of these matters, even though you know and are firm in the truth that is with you. For I think it is right, as long as I am still in this tabernacle of the flesh, to keep you wakeful by reminding you, knowing as I do that the putting off of this tabernacle of mine will come soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me; and I shall try to see to it that you will always remember these things after my departure. For it is not by following artfully constructed myths that we have made known to you the power and the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ, but because we were eyewitnesses to his greatness. For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, a voice like this came to him from the ma^nficent glory: This is my son, whom I love, in whom I am well pleased. And we heard this voice coming to him from heaven while we were with him on the holy mountain. We have the prophetic word, which is certain; you do well to hold to it, as to a lamp shining in a dingy place, until the day dawns in light and the morning star rises in your hearts. But first, know this, that no prophecy in scripture is subject to personal interpretation; for prophecy did not ever come by the will of man, but men, carried along by the Holy Spirit, have spoken from God.
There were also false prophets ^ong the people, as among you also there will be false teachers, who will bring in destructive heresies, even disowning the master who bought their freedom and bringing swift destruction upon themselves. But many will follow their vicious practices, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed; and in their greed they will exploit you with made-up stories; but, long since, the judgment against them has not been inactive, and their destruction has not been sleeping.
For if God did not spare the angels who sinned but consigned them to the lower depths of darkness where they are kept for judgment; and if he did not spare the ancient world, but did protect Noah, the herald of righteousness, with seven others, while he let loose the flood on the world of the impious; and if he doomed the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes, making them an example of what is in store for the impious; and if he rescued the righteous Lot, who was afflicted by the vicious behavior of these lawless people (for, righteous as he was and living among them, by what he saw and heard day after day he was tormented in his righteous soul by their lawless behavior); then the Lord knows how to rescue the pious from their ordeal and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the Day of Judgment; especially those who follow the flesh in lust for corruption, and who despise high authority. Daring, headstrong, they do not tremble before glorious creatures, but insult them; whereas angels, who are greater in strength and power than they, do not insult them as they demand judgment against them.
But these men, like unreasoning beasts, creatures of nature bred to be caught and slaughtered, insulting what they do not understand, will be slaughtered as such beasts are slaughtered, damaged for the damage they have done. They think of happiness as the luxury of the day, they are blots and blemishes who revel in their o^ beguile- ments as they share your feasts. They have eyes that are full of adultery, insatiable in sinning, and they seduce unstable souls since their hearts are well practiced in serving their greed. Children of the curse, they left the straight road and went astray, following the course of Balaam the son of Beor, who longed for the wages of wickedness but was reproved for this transgression; a dumb beast spoke in a human voice and stopped the madness of the prophet.
These men are waterless springs, clouds before the whirlwind; the dark of hell is in store for them. For speaking loud in their lewdness they seduce, through the lusts of the flesh, through depravity, some who are barely escaping from the wrong way of life. They promise them freedom, being themselves the slaves of corruption; for anyone is the slave of one to whom he has lost. If they once escaped from the defilements of the world by recognizing the Lord and savior Jesus Christ, and then once more are involved in these and overcome, what happened to them last is worse than what happened first. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than, having known it, to t^m back from the holy commandment that was handed down to them. What has happened to them is what is in the true proverb: The dog returns to his vomit; and: The sow washed clean goes back to roll in the mud.
This, dear friends, is the second letter I have written you, to quicken the pure purpose in you by reminding you: that you should remember the words spoken of old by the holy prophets, and the commandment of the Lord and savior from your apostles. But first understand this, that in these final days mockers will come with their mockery, people who go the way of their own desires, who will say: Where is the promise of his coming? For since our fathers were laid to rest, all things remain as they have been since the original creation. But they are unaware, as they wish to be, that the skies existed from of old, and the earth formed from water and standing in the water, by the word of God; and through these waters the earth was flooded with water and perished. And by the same word the skies that are now and the earth that is now are stored away for the fire, kept for the Day of Judgment and the destruction of impious people.
Do not forget this one thing, dear friends; that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. The Lord is not slow with his promise, as some think it is slowness; but he is patient with you, because he does not want any to be destroyed, but all to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and on it the heavens will disappear with a sizzling noise, and the heavenly bodies will fall apart in flames, and the earth and the things inside it will be laid open. When all these things break up, how great is the need for you to keep to the saintly and pious life, expecting and urging on the coming of the day of God, when the heavens will fall apart in fire and the heavenly bodies melt in the flames. Then, according to his promise, let us look for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness resides.