2 Peter 2:15-3

God's Goals for Us

1¹⁵Who've forsaken (abandon; renounce) the right (straight) way and gone astray (taken the path of error; lost), following the [doctrine of] Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the [rewards] of [greed, iniquity and injustice], ¹⁶but was rebuked for his iniquity (Balaam's) ass speaking with a man's voice forbade him the madness of the prophet (Numbers 22:20-35).

¹⁷These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with [sudden storms] to whom the mist of darkness has been reserved. ¹⁸When they speak words [of excessive bulk with no substance] they entice, [the man of the flesh] (as opposed to the man of the spirit) through much [laxness in morality], those that are just escaping those who live in error.

¹⁹While they promise them liberty (equality; rights) they themselves are servants of corruption. Because all those who are overcome are brought into the bondage (of law). ²⁰Once having escaped the pollutions of the world, through their knowledge of Jesus Christ, Lord and Savior, the [final] end is worse than the beginning if they're again entangled in it. ²¹For it would've been better for them not to have known the way of [justice] than to have known it and turned away from the holy commandment. delivered to them. ²²But it's happened to them just as the true Proverb said, "The dog is turned to his own vomit again" (Prov.11:1); and a sow to wallowing in the mire after having been washed.

3¹Beloved, this second [letter] I'm now writing to you, both actually, I stir up your sincere mind to remember, ²so you may [keep in mind] the words spoken by the holy prophets and of the commandments of the Lord and Savior by us the apostles. ³Knowing, from the first, that there will come in the last days [mockers] walking, [self serving], ⁴and saying, "Where is the promise of His coming? Generations have died and everything continues as it did from creation." ⁵Because they willingly forget: 'by the word of God the heavens were of old and an earth [formed] out of water and [by means of] the water, ⁶the world that was then, [flooded] and perished. ⁷But the heavens and the [present] earth, by the same word, are [treasures] [stored with fire] till the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. ⁸Beloved, don't [forget] this one thing, 1 day to the Lord is as 1000 years and a 1000 years as 1 day. ⁹The Lord is not [late or] delaying His promise, as some men count [lateness], but He is patient with us, not willing that any should perish but all [might] come to repentance [remorse; regret].

¹⁰But the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise and the elements will melt with [scorching] heat; also the earth, and the WORKS THAT ARE IN IT, will be burned up. ¹¹Since all these things will be dissolved, what kind of person should you be in holy living and godliness; expecting and earnestly desiring the coming of the day of God, because the heavens, bing on fire, will be dissolved and the elements will meet with scorching heat? But we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, in which lives [rightness; justice]. ¹⁴So, beloved, seeing that you [look forward patiently] for such things, be diligent so you may be found of Him in peace, without [taint and undefiled]. ¹⁵And [the recorded] long suffering of our Lord is salvation, even as our beloved brother, Paul, has written to you according to the wisdom given to him. ¹⁶As he also spoke of these things in his letter and some things are hard to understand, to the destruction of those who struggle (being unlearned and unstable) along with other scripture. ¹⁷So, beloved, seeing you've known these things from the beginning (John 16:4) beware you aren't also carried away with the same errors of the wicked and fall from your own [stability], ¹⁸but grow in grace and in knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.