2 Peter 2:18-3:9

New King James Version

Deceptions of False Teachers

¹⁸ For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who ^[a]have actually escaped from those who live in error. ¹⁹ While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of ^[b]corruption; ^(A)for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into ^[c]bondage. ²⁰ For if, after they ^(B)have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are ^(C)again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. ²¹ For ^(D)it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. ²² But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: ^(E)“A dog returns to his own vomit,” and, “a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire.”

God’s Promise Is Not Slack^(F)

3 Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle (in both of which ^(G)I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder), ² that you may be mindful of the words ^(H)which were spoken before by the holy prophets, ^(I)and of the commandment of ^[d]us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior, ³ knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, ^(J)walking according to 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 ^(K)creation.” ⁵ For this they willfully forget: that ^(L)by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth ^(M)standing out of water and in the water, ^6 (N)by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. ⁷ But ^(O)the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for ^(P)fire until the day of judgment and ^[e]perdition of ungodly men.

⁸ But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and ^(Q)a thousand years as one day. ^9 (R)The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but ^(S)is longsuffering toward ^[f]us, ^(T)not willing that any should perish but ^(U)that all should come to repentance.