King James Version
1 ¶ 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 Saviour Jesus Christ:
2 Grace and peace
be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,
3 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:
4 Whereby 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.
5 ¶ And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your
faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
6 And to
knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;
7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness
charity.
8 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.
9 But he that
lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that
he was purged from his old sins.
10 Wherefore the
rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if
ye do these things, ye shall never fall:
11 For so an
entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom
of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
12 ¶ 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.
13 Yea, I think
it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in
remembrance;
14
Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even
as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me.
15 Moreover I
will endeavour that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always
in remembrance.
16 ¶ 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.
17 For he
received from God the Father honour 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.
18 And this voice
which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount.
19 ¶ 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:
20 Knowing this
first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
21 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.
1 ¶ 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.
2 And many shall
follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil
spoken of.
3 ¶ And through covetousness shall they with feigned words
make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and
their damnation slumbereth not.
4 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;
5 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;
6 And turning the
cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making
them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly;
7 ¶ And delivered just Lot,
vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked:
8 (For that
righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous
soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;)
9 The Lord
knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust
unto the day of judgment to be punished:
10 ¶ But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the
lust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are they, selfwilled,
they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities.
11 Whereas
angels, which are greater in power and might, bring not railing accusation
against them before the Lord.
12 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;
13 And shall
receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot
in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their
own deceivings while they feast with you;
14 Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot
cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with
covetous practices; cursed children:
15 Which have forsaken
the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of
Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;
16 But was
rebuked for his iniquity: the dumb ass speaking with man's voice forbad the
madness of the prophet.
17 These are wells
without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of
darkness is reserved for ever.
18 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.
19 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.
20 For if after
they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord
and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the
latter end is worse with them than the beginning.
21 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.
22 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.
1 ¶ This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you;
in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance:
2 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 Saviour:
3 ¶ Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last
days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,
4 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.
5 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:
6 Whereby the
world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:
7 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.
8 ¶ 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.
9 ¶ 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.
10 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 burned up.
11 ¶ Seeing then that all these things shall be
dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and
godliness,
12 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?
13 Nevertheless
we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein
dwelleth righteousness.
14 Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for
such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot,
and blameless.
15 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;
16 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.
17 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 stedfastness.
18 But grow in
grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be
glory both now and for ever. Amen.