2 Peter

1   Shimon Petros, a slave and ambassador of Yeshua the Anointed.

    To those who have obtained by lot a faith which is equally precious to ours, through the righteousness of our god and our saviour Yeshua the Anointed.

    May grace and peace be multiplied to you= in the recognition of God and of Yeshua our lord.

    Since all things have been bestowed on us by his divine power, for life and devoutness through the recognition of the one who calls us through glory and virtue, through which the precious and greatest promises have been bestowed on us, so that through these you= may become sharers of the divine nature, fleeing from the decay which is in the world through desire.

    And for the same reason, with all diligence, add more to what you= have — to your= faith, virtue; and to virtue, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, devoutness; and to devoutness, brotherly love; and to brotherly love, love. For possessing and abounding in these will make you= neither idle nor unfruitful concerning the recognition of our lord Yeshua the Anointed. But anyone who doesn’t have these is blind, short-sighted, forgetful of having received the purification of their sins of long ago.

    Therefore brothers, be even more diligent to make your= calling and election certain, for in doing these things you’ll= never trip, for in this same way, you’ll= be richly supplied with entrance into the everlasting kingdom of our lord and saviour Yeshua the Anointed. That’s why I won’t be negligent to always remind you= about these things, even though you’re= aware of them, and you’ve= been established in the truth which is present with you=. But I deem it right, as long as I’m in this tent, to wake you= up with a reminder, because I know that very soon I’ll put off this tent of mine, (just as our lord Yeshua the Anointed has also made evident to me), but I’ll be diligent to make sure that on every occasion which you= have after my departure, you’ll= have a reminder of these things.

    For we weren’t following cleverly crafted stories when we made known to you= the power and the arrival of our lord Yeshua the Anointed, but we were eye-witnesses of that majesty. For he received honour and glory from God the father, brought to him by a voice, by such a magnificent glory, “This is my beloved son in whom I’m delighted.” And we ourselves heard this voice brought from heaven, being with him on the holy mountain.

    And we also have the prophetic message made more confirmed, which you’ll= do well to pay attention to, like a lamp appearing in a squalid place until the day breaks and the morning star rises in your= hearts. Firstly perceive this, that no prophecy of the writing ever came to be from a prophet’s own deduction. For no prophecy was ever carried by the will of a person, but when the holy people of God spoke, being carried along by the holy spirit.

2   But some false prophets also came in among the people, (just as there’ll be false teachers in among you= who’ll introduce destructive heresies), and having disowned the owner who bought them, they bring swift destruction upon themselves. And many will follow them in their sexual immorality, (through whom the way of truth will be spoken evil about), and they’ll exploit you= through greed and fabricated stories. Their condemnation has for a long time been not sitting idly by, and their destruction isn’t asleep.

    For if God doesn’t spare messengers when they sin, but thrusts them into the caverns of gloom in Tartarusa, handing them over to be kept until the judgement; and he didn’t spare the ancient world, (but guarded eight, including Noah, a proclaimer of righteousness), bringing a deluge on the ungodly world; and he reduced the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes, condemning them to be overthrown, having placed them there as an example to those who were about to be ungodly, (but he rescued righteous Lot, who was worn out by the lawless way of life of sexual immorality, for the righteous soul of that righteous one, dwelling among them, and seeing and hearing their lawless acts, was tortured day after day), then the lordb [Yahweh] knows how to rescue the devout from trials, and how to keep the unrighteous being punished until the day of judgment.

    Especially those who go after the flesh, in their desire for immorality, and who despise lordship, audacious, presumptuous, not trembling at speaking evil about glorious beings, (where even messengers, whose strength and power are greater, don’t bring evil judgements against them with the lord). But these, like irrational wild animals, have been born in order to be captured and destroyed, speaking evil about things of which they’re ignorant, and in their destruction they’ll be utterly destroyed, they’ll carry off the reward of unrighteousness, supposing it pleasure in the luxury of the day. They’re blemishes and disgraces, revelling in their deceits, feasting together with you=, having eyes full of adulteryc, and never ceasing to sin, luring unstable souls, having a heart trained in greed, children of a curse.

    Leaving the straight path, they’ve been led astray, having followed along the way of Balaam, the son of Bosor, who loved the reward of unrighteousness, but was convicted of his own law breaking when a voiceless beast of burden spoke with a human voice, forbidding the madness of the prophet. They’re waterless springs, and clouds which are driven by a severe storm, for whom gloom and darkness has been reserved, into the age.

    For, uttering puffed up purposelessness, they entice those who were actually escaping from those who are going astray into the desires of the flesh in sexual immorality, and are turning them back, promising them freedom, when they themselves are by nature slaves to destruction. For anyone is enslaved to what’s subdued them, for if, having fled from the defilements of the world in the recognition of the lord and saviour Yeshua the Anointed, they’re again entangled and subdued by them, then their end is worse than it was at first, for it would’ve been better for them not to have recognised the way of righteousness, than, having recognised it, to turn back again from the holy command that was given to them. The proverb has proven to be true for them, “A dog turns back to its own vomit.” and “Having been bathed, a sow wallows in the mire.”

a) Tartarus is a Greek name for a place of judgment in the afterlife

b) Jews used “Lord” in place of “Yahweh” to avoid any possibility of breaking the third commandment.

c) adultery here is literally “an adulteress”

3   Beloved, this is already the second letter I’m writing to you=, in which I’m waking your= pure understanding, as a reminder, to remember those declarations which have been declared before by the holy prophets, and at the command of us, the ambassadors of the lord and saviour.

    Firstly perceiving this, that in the last days mockers will come, going on according to their own desires, and saying “Where’s the promise of his arrival? For since the fathers were laid to rest everything’s continued in the same way as it has since the beginning of creation.” For they willingly fail to notice that the skies have existed for a long time, and the earth was combined together, from water and through water, by the message of God, through which the world of that time was deluged by water and was destroyed. But the present skies and earth, by the same message, have been stored up, reserved for fire in the day of judgement and destruction of the ungodly people.

    But don’t let this one thing escape your= notice beloved, that one day with the lorda [Yahweh] is like a thousand years, and a thousand years is like one day. The lorda [Yahweh] isn’t slow in the promise as some count slowness, but he’s patient with us, not intending anyone to be destroyed, but for all to make room for repentance. But the day of the lorda [Yahweh] will arrive like a thief in the night, in which the skies will pass away with a booming noise, and the elements will be dissolved by heat, and the earth, and all the works in it, will be burned up.

    Since everything will be dissolved in this way, what kind of people must you= be — in holy behaviour and devoutness, expecting and hastening the arrival of the day of God, through which the skies, being on fire, will be dissolved and the elements will be melted down by heat. But, according to his promise, we’re expecting new skies and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Therefore beloved, expecting these things, be diligent, spotless and blameless, to be found at peace by him.

    And the patience of our lord is leading us to salvation, just as our beloved brother Paulus, according to the wisdom given to him, has also written to you=, and as is also said in all the letters, concerning these things which are hard to understand, and which the unlearned and unstable twist, as they do the rest of the writings, to their own destruction.

    You= then beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on guard so that you= aren’t led astray with the immoral, and fall from your= own steadfastness, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our lord and saviour Yeshua the Anointed.

    To him is the glory, both now and into the day of the age.

    Amenb.

a) Jews used “Lord” in place of “Yahweh” to avoid any possibility of breaking the third commandment.

b) amen is a Hebrew word meaning “truly”