¹ Loved ones, this is now^a the second letter I am writing to you with which I am waking up your uncontaminated way of thinking with a reminder ² to remember the statements said previously by the prophets who were dedicated for sacred purposes and the direction from the emissaries of the Lord and Liberator. ³ I want you to understand this first: people who taunt and proceed based on their own desires will come during the last days with taunts ⁴ and say, “Where is his promised arrival^b? The ancestors fell asleep^c without it, and everything still stays the same way it has been from the beginning of creation.” ⁵ This causes those who wish it to forget that the heavens existed long ago and the land has been constructed out from the water and through the water by God’s conversation. ⁶ The world system at that time was also destroyed by it when it was flooded with water. ⁷ But now, the heavens and the land have been reserved by the same conversation and are being kept for^d fire on a day of assessment and destruction of the disrespectful^e people.

⁸ Loved ones, in this don’t let it cause you to forget that in the Lord’s perception, one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years is like one day. ⁹ The Lord isn’t stalling^f the Promise as some think of stalling; instead, the Lord is patient for your benefit since he doesn’t want anyone to be destroyed but for everyone to turn toward transforming their mind.^{g 10} Then the day of the Lord will arrive like a thief. On that day, the heavens will pass away with a hiss,^h and the fundamental assumptionsⁱ will be dissolved, burned up, and the land and the things done in it will be found out.^{j 11} With all these things to be dissolved this way, it is necessary to lay the foundation as the sort of people with a way of life dedicated to sacred purposes and with respectfulness, ¹² expecting and pursuing the arrival^k of the day of God by which the heavens, being purified with fire, will be melted down and the fundamental assumptions burned up and dissolved.^{l 13} So, based on his promise, we are expecting a new heavens and a new land in which justice is established.^m

¹⁴ Loved ones, because of this, while you are expecting these things, pursue being found out to be spotless and unblemished withⁿ him^o regarding peace, ¹⁵ and think of our Lord’s patience as liberation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you based on the wisdom given to him. ¹⁶ He has also spoken about these things in all his letters. There are things in them that are counterintuitive, which people who don’t understand and are insecure distort^p as they also do with the rest of the scriptures^q to their own destruction. ¹⁷ Therefore, loved ones, since you know in advance, be vigilant so that you do not fall away^r from your own firm footing by being led away into the wandering of the people who abandon their commitments. ¹⁸ Grow in generosity and knowledge of our Lord and Liberator, Jesus Christ. Praise be to him both now and in the day of the Age.