The Second Letter from Peter

The Second Letter from Peter




1 [1-11] From Simon Peter, a worker and a follower of Yeshua the Christ, to those who have come to the same treasured faith as us by the goodness of our God and Savior, Yeshua the Christ: May grace and peace be given to you by the knowledge of God, and of Yeshua our Christ, as the power of God gives us everything we need for life and godliness, by the knowledge of the One who has called us to victory and goodness. By this, amazing and treasured truths were given to us, so that by these you might have a godly nature, having been freed from wanting what is evil in the world. And besides this, give all your attention to adding goodness to your faith; and knowledge to goodness; and self-control to knowledge; and patience to self-control; and godliness to patience; and friendly care and concern to godliness; and love to friendly care and concern. So, if you have these things and grow in them, your life won’t be meaningless or unrewarding in the knowledge of our Savior, Yeshua the Christ. But whoever doesn’t have these things can’t see what’s ahead, and has forgotten that they’ve been freed from their old sins. So dear Christians, be careful to make sure you were chosen and called, because if you do these things, you won’t fall: So your way will be fully cleared into the everlasting realm of our God and Savior, Yeshua the Christ.



God’s Word Not of Human Origin

[12-21] I won’t forget to remind you of this always, though you know it, and are now settled in the truth. Yes, I think I’m right, as long as I’m in this body, to wake you up by reminding you; knowing that shortly I must leave this body of mine, just as our Savior, Yeshua the Christ has told me ahead of time. Besides this, I’ll try to make sure you’ll always remember this after my death. Because we haven’t followed made-up story tales, when we made known to you the power and coming of our Savior, Yeshua the Christ, but we saw for ourselves Yeshua’s greatness. And the Christ received from Yahweh God honor and victory, when the voice of the One worthy of praise came to Yeshua, saying, “This is My Child, who I love, and am so pleased with.” And we heard this voice from heaven for ourselves, when we were with the Christ in the holy mountain. So we’re sure of the Word, which was given ahead of time; and you’ll do good to think of it as a light that shines in the dark, until the dawn of day when the sun rises in your hearts. You know that no Word, which was given ahead of time in God's Word, is of any human origin. And the Word, which was given ahead of time in the old days, wasn’t created by the mind of any human being: but the holy ones of God spoke as they were led by the Holy Spirit.



Beware of False Teachers Who Only Want Money

2 [1-11] But there were false teachers among the people then, just as there are among you now, who secretly teach damned falsehoods, even disowning the very Christ who paid the price for them, and who bring on themselves a quick ruin. And many will follow their evil ways, who will cause the way of truth to be spoken of as evil. And through greed they’ll get rich off of you with their false words, whose judgment has left them along time ago, and their damnation won’t end. If God didn’t even spare the angels that sinned, but threw them down to hell, and put them into chains of darkness, to be kept until the judgment; And didn’t spare the old world, but saved Noah, one of only eight people, a great preacher of goodness, sending the flood on the world of the ungodly; And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, damned them to complete ruin, making them an example to those who live ungodly lives now; And saved Lot, who was good, but suffered greatly from the filthy acts of those evil people: (because living among them, that good person’s soul suffered daily by seeing and hearing their uncontrolled actions). But God knew how to save the godly from those temptations, and how to keep the evil ones to be punished until the day of judgment: But most importantly those who follow their physical instincts in their greed for evil things, and hate to be told what they should do. They are full of self-importance, and selfish, and they aren’t afraid to speak evil of those in power, while angels, which are stronger and more powerful, won’t even accuse them to God.

[12-16] But these people, like animals, made to be hunted and killed, speak evil of the things that they don’t understand; and will be completely destroyed by their own evil actions. They’ll pay for their ungodliness, as those who think it a pleasure to sin openly in broad daylight. They’re ruining your celebrations, openly sinning while they keep them with you, lying to themselves. They look on others with sexual sin in their hearts, and can’t stop sinning; tempting unstable souls with a heart that’s used to selfish actions. They’re cursed children, who have left the right way, and have gotten lost, following the way of Balaam, the child of Beor, who loved to be paid for ungodly actions; But he was scolded by a dumb donkey speaking with a human voice for his sin, which stopped the stupidity of the great preacher.

[17-22] These are wells without water, clouds that are carried by a stormy wind, for whom is kept the blackest of darkness forever. When they speak very nice words full of empty promises, they shamelessly tempt others with the sexual sins of the body, even those who had already been freed from living in sin. While they promise them freedom, they themselves become controlled by their sin, because by the sin which a person is overcome, they are controlled by that same sin. And if after they’ve been freed from the sins of the world through the knowledge of our God and Savior, Yeshua the Christ, they’re trapped in it again, and overcome, with the latter end being worse than they were in the beginning. It would have been better for them not to have known the way of goodness, than, after they’ve known it, to turn from the Holy Word that was given to them. But they do just like this truth says, “The dog goes back to its own vomit again; and the pig that was washed goes back to wallowing in the mud.”



Atheists will Come in the Last Days

3 [1-7] This second letter, dear loved one, I now write to you; both of which I hope stirs up your pure minds by reminding you to remember the Words which were spoken by the holy ones, and our words, the followers of Christ our Savior. Know this first, that there will come in the last days those who will mock us, doing whatever they want to, and saying, “Where is the promise of the Christ’s coming? Since our ancestors died, everything continues as it was from the beginning of creation,” because they want to forget that by the Word of God the heavens were created long ago, and the earth surrounded by water: By which the world that was back then, being flooded with water, was destroyed. But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same Word are kept waiting, until the ungodly ones suffer the fire of the day of judgment and the punishment of Hell.



A New Heaven and A New Earth

[8-13] But, dear loved one, don’t be without knowledge of this one thing, that with God, one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. God’s promise is not forgotten, as some say; but God is very patient with us, not wanting anyone to be destroyed, but wanting everyone to change their ways. But the day of God will come as a thief in the night. The heavens will come to an end with a great noise, and even the very elements will melt with great heat, and the earth too, along with everything in it, will be burned up. Seeing then that all this will disappear, what kind of people should you be in all holy behavior and godliness, looking for and hurrying the coming of the day of God, in which the heavens, being on fire, will disappear, and the elements will melt with great heat? Just the same, because of God’s promise, we look for the new heavens and a new earth, in which only goodness lives.

[14-18] So, dear loved one, seeing that you look for these things, be careful that you can be found by God in peace, without fault or blame. And know that we’re saved by the patience of our Christ; just as our dear loved one, Paul, for the wisdom given to him has also written to you, who has in all his letters spoken of this, too. These things are sometimes hard to understand, which those who are untaught and unstable in the Word struggle, as they do also the other Words, to their own ruin. So you, dear loved one, seeing that you know this, beware in case you also, being led away with the wrongs of the evil ones, fall from your own faithfulness. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our God and Savior, Yeshua the Christ. To whom be victory both now and forever. So be it!