3: 1 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;
3: 2 that ye should remember the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and the commandment of the Lord and Saviour through your apostles:
3: 3 knowing this first, that ⁴⁶on the last of the days mockers shall come with mockery, walking after their own lusts,
⁴⁶Or, in the last days

3: 4 and saying, Where is the promise of his presence? for, from the day that the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
3: 5 For this ⁴⁷they wilfully forget, that there were heavens from of old, and ⁴⁸an earth held together out of water and ⁴⁹amidst water vapors, by the word of God;
⁴⁷Or, is concealed from them, And in vs. 8 Let not this be concealed from you,
⁴⁸Or possibly, earth having been formed by the word of God up above the water and under cover of mist; Compare Ge 1:6-7; 2:5-6.
⁴⁹Gk. through

3: 6 by which means the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:
3: 7 but the ⁵⁰heavens that now are, and the earth, by the same word have been ⁵¹stored up for fire, being reserved against a day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.
⁵⁰Or, heavenly bodies And so in vs. 12.
⁵¹Or, stored with fire,

3: 8 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.
3: 9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some count slackness; but is longsuffering ⁵²toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
⁵²So p⁷²BC 1739 1881 1241 1243 2344 322 048^vid 0156 cop^bo arm. Aℵψ 1852 33 cop^sa vg read for your sake, A majority of lesser Gk. mss. read toward us,

3: 10 But the day of the Lord will have come ⁵³as 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 ⁵⁴exposed.
⁵³So p⁷²BAℵψ 1739 1852 1881 1241 1243 2344 33 322 048^vid 0156 and 45 lesser Gk. mss., cop vg. C and 441 lesser Gk. mss. read as a thief in the night,
⁵⁴Or, discovered. So Bℵ 1739^txt 1852 1881 1241 322 0156^vid and 8 lesser Gk. mss., arm. A (1243) 2344 33 048 and 470 lesser Gk. mss., cop^bo read burned up. C reads shall disappear. [ψ vg omit this clause.] p⁷² alone reads the clause the works that are being dissolved therein shall be exposed.

3: 11 ⁵⁵Seeing that these things are thus all to be dissolved, what manner of persons ⁵⁶ought ye to be in all holy living and godliness,
⁵⁵So p^(72),74vidB 1739 1852 1881 1241 1243 322 arm. Aℵψ 2344 33 048 and 431 lesser Gk. mss., cop^bo vg read Seeing then that these things are all to be dissolved, C reads But seeing that ... are thus etc. 81 cop^sa read Seeing then that ... are thus etc.
⁵⁶p^72*,74B almost alone read ought people to be

3: 12 looking for and ⁵⁷hastening the presence 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?
⁵⁷Or, earnestly desiring the presence

3: 13 But, according to his promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.
3: 14 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.
3: 15 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;
3: 16 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.
3: 17 Ye therefore, beloved, knowing these things beforehand, beware lest, being carried away with the error of the wicked, ye fall from your own stedfastness.
3: 18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and ⁵⁸unto the day of eternity. ⁵⁹Amen.
⁵⁸Or, forever. (Cf. Apocrypha: Ecclesiasticus 18:10.) Lit. unto a day of an age.
⁵⁹So p⁷²AℵCψ 1852 2344 33 322 and the majority of lesser Gk. mss., cop^sa,bo vg arm. B 1739* 1881 1241 1243 omit Amen.