{ heart } [2P] 1v1
Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle
of JESUS CHRIST,
to them that have obtained like precious faith with us,
through the righteousness of GOD,
and our SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST:
Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle
of JESUS CHRIST,
to them that have obtained like precious faith with us,
through the righteousness of GOD,
and our SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST:
Grace and peace be multiplied unto you
through the knowledge of GOD,
and of JESUS our LORD,
According as HIS divine power hath given unto us
all things that pertain unto life and godliness,
through the knowledge of HIM
THAT hath called us to glory and virtue.
By which are given unto us
exceeding great and precious promises,
that by these ye might be partakers
of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption
that is in the world through lust.
And besides this, giving all diligence,
add to your faith, virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
And to knowledge, temperance;
and to temperance, patience;
and to patience, godliness;
And to godliness, brotherly kindness;
and to brotherly kindness, charity.
For if these things be in you, and abound,
they make you that ye shall neither be barren,
nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our LORD
JESUS CHRIST.
But he that lacketh these things, is blind,
and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten
that he was purged from his old sins.
Wherefore, the rather, brethren,
give diligence to make your calling and election sure:
for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall.
For so an entrance
shall be ministered unto you abundantly
into the everlasting kingdom
of our LORD and SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST.
Wherefore I will not be negligent
to put you always in remembrance of these things,
though ye know them,
and be established in the present truth.
Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle,
to stir you up, by putting you in remembrance:
Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle,
even as our LORD JESUS CHRIST
hath showed me.
Moreover, I will endeavor,
that ye may be able after my decease,
to have these things always in remembrance.
For we have not followed cunningly devised fables,
when we made known unto you
‘The power and coming of our LORD
JESUS CHRIST,’
But were eyewitnesses of HIS majesty.
For HE received from GOD the FATHER,
honor and glory,
when there came such a VOICE to HIM
from the excellent GLORY,
THIS is MY beloved SON,
in WHOM I AM well pleased.
And THIS VOICE WHICH came from heaven
we heard, when we were with HIM in the holy mount.
We have also a more sure word of prophecy,
whereunto ye do well that ye take heed,
as unto a light that shineth in a dark place,
until the day dawn, and the day star arise
in your hearts:
Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the Scripture
is of any private interpretation.
For the prophecy came not in old time
by the will of man: but holy men of GOD spake
as they were moved by the HOLY GHOST.
But there were false prophets
also among the people,
even as there shall be false teachers among you,
who privily shall bring in damnable heresies,
even denying the LORD THAT bought them,
and bring upon themselves swift destruction.
And many shall follow their pernicious ways,
by reason of whom the way of truth
shall be evil spoken of:
And through covetousness shall they
with feigned words, make merchandise of you,
whose judgment now for a long time lingereth not,
and their damnation slumbereth not.
For if GOD spared not the Angels That sinned,
but cast Them down to hell,
and delivered Them into chains of darkness,
to be reserved unto judgment:
And spared not the old world, but saved Noah
the eighth person a preacher of righteousness,
bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly:
And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah
into ashes, condemned them with an overthrow,
making them an ensample
unto those that after should live ungodly:
And delivered just Lot,
vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked:
(For that righteous man dwelling among them,
in seeing and hearing,
vexed his righteous soul from day to day,
with their unlawful deeds.)
The LORD knoweth how to deliver the godly
out of temptations,
and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment
to be punished:
But chiefly them that walk after the flesh
in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government.
Presumptuous are they; self-willed:
they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities:
Whereas Angels Which are greater in power
and might, bring not railing accusation against them
before the LORD.
But these, as natural brute beasts
made to be taken and destroyed,
speak evil of the things that they understand not,
and shall utterly perish in their own corruption,
And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness,
as they that count it pleasure to riot in the daytime:
Spots they are and blemishes,
sporting themselves with their own deceivings,
while they feast with you:
Having eyes full of adultery
and that cannot cease from sin,
beguiling unstable souls:
an heart they have exercised with covetous practices:
cursed children:
Which have forsaken the right way,
and are gone astray,
following the way of Balaam the son of Beor,
who loved the wages of unrighteousness,
But was rebuked for his iniquity:
the dumb ass speaking with man's voice,
forbade the madness of the prophet.
These are wells without water,
clouds that are carried with a tempest,
to whom the mist of darkness is reserved forever.
For when they speak great swelling words of vanity,
they allure through the lusts of the flesh,
through much wantonness, those that were
clean escaped from them who live in error.
While they promise them liberty,
they themselves are the servants of corruption:
for of whom a man is overcome,
of the same is he brought in bondage.
For if after they have escaped the pollutions
of the world
through the knowledge of the LORD and SAVIOR
JESUS CHRIST,
they are again entangled therein, and overcome,
the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.
For it had been better for them
not to have known the way of righteousness,
than after they have known it, to turn
from the holy commandment delivered unto them.
But it is happened unto them
according to the true proverb:
The dog is turned to his own vomit again,
and the sow that was washed,
to her wallowing in the mire.
This second epistle (beloved) I now write unto you,
in both which I stir up your pure minds
by way of remembrance:
That ye may be mindful of the words
which were spoken before by the holy prophets,
and of the commandment of us
the apostles of the LORD and SAVIOR:
Knowing this first,
that there shall come in the last days scoffers,
walking after their own lusts,
And saying,
‘Where is the promise of HIS coming?
For since the fathers fell asleep,
all things continue as they were
from the beginning of the creation’.
For this they willingly are ignorant of,
that by the WORD of GOD the heavens were of old,
and the earth standing out of the water,
and in the water,
Whereby the world that then was,
being overflowed with water, perished.
But the heavens and the earth which are now,
by the same word are kept in store,
reserved unto fire against the day of judgment,
and perdition of ungodly men.
But (beloved) be not ignorant of this one thing,
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 men count slackness)
but is longsuffering to us-ward,
not willing 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 the which the heavens shall pass away
with a great noise,
and the elements shall melt with fervent heat,
the earth also and the works that are therein
shall be burnt up.
Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved,
What manner of persons ought ye to be
in all holy conversation, and godliness,
Looking for and hasting
unto the coming of the day of GOD,
wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved,
and the elements shall melt with fervent heat.
Nevertheless we, according to HIS promise,
look for new heavens, and a new earth,
wherein dwelleth righteousness.
Wherefore (beloved) seeing that ye look
for such things,
be diligent that ye may be found of HIM
in peace, without spot, and blameless.
And account that the longsuffering of our LORD
is salvation,
even as our beloved brother Paul also,
according to the wisdom given unto him,
hath written unto you.
As also in all his epistles, speaking in them
of these things,
in which are some things hard to be understood,
which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest,
as they do also the other Scriptures,
unto their own destruction.
Ye therefore, beloved,
seeing ye know these things before,
beware lest ye also being led away
with the error of the wicked,
fall from your own steadfastness.
But grow in grace, and in the knowledge
of our LORD and SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST:
to HIM be glory both now and forever.
Amen.