2 Peter 3:11-18

Common English Bible

¹¹Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be? You must live holy and godly lives, ¹²waiting for and hastening the coming day of God. Because of that day, the heavens will be destroyed by fire and the elements will melt away in the flames. ¹³But according to his promise we are waiting for a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness is at home.

Preparing for Christ’s coming in judgment

¹⁴Therefore, dear friends, while you are waiting for these things to happen, make every effort to be found by him in peace—pure and faultless. ¹⁵Consider the patience of our Lord to be salvation, just as our dear friend and brother Paul wrote to you according to the wisdom given to him, ¹⁶speaking of these things in all his letters. Some of his remarks are hard to understand, and people who are ignorant and whose faith is weak twist them to their own destruction, just as they do the other scriptures.

Final instruction

¹⁷Therefore, dear friends, since you have been warned in advance, be on guard so that you aren’t led off course into the error of sinful people, and lose your own safe position. ¹⁸Instead, grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. To him belongs glory now and forever. Amen.

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Psalm 90:1-6

Common English Bible

BOOK IV

(Psalms 90–106)

Psalm 90

A prayer of Moses, the man of God.

90 Lord, you have been our help,
    generation after generation.
²Before the mountains were born,
    before you birthed the earth and the inhabited world—
    from forever in the past
    to forever in the future, you are God.

³You return people to dust,
    saying, “Go back, humans,”
⁴    because in your perspective a thousand years
    are like yesterday past,
    like a short period during the night watch.
⁵You sweep humans away like a dream,
    like grass that is renewed in the morning.
⁶True, in the morning it thrives, renewed,
    but come evening it withers, all dried up.

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Psalm 90:13-17

Common English Bible

¹³Come back to us, Lord!
    Please, quick!
    Have some compassion for your servants!
¹⁴Fill us full every morning with your faithful love
    so we can rejoice and celebrate our whole life long.
¹⁵Make us happy for the same amount of time that you afflicted us—
    for the same number of years that we saw only trouble.
¹⁶Let your acts be seen by your servants;
    let your glory be seen by their children.
¹⁷Let the kindness of the Lord our God be over us.
    Make the work of our hands last.
    Make the work of our hands last!

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Mark 12:13-17

Common English Bible

A question about taxes

¹³They sent some of the Pharisees and supporters of Herod to trap him in his words. ¹⁴They came to him and said, “Teacher, we know that you’re genuine and you don’t worry about what people think. You don’t show favoritism but teach God’s way as it really is. Does the Law allow people to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Should we pay taxes or not?”

¹⁵Since Jesus recognized their deceit, he said to them, “Why are you testing me? Bring me a coin. Show it to me.” ¹⁶And they brought one. He said to them, “Whose image and inscription is this?”

“Caesar’s,” they replied.

¹⁷Jesus said to them, “Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.” His reply left them overcome with wonder.

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