^8 (A)But do not forget one thing, my dear friends! There is no difference in the Lord's sight between one day and a thousand years; to him the two are the same. ⁹ The Lord is not slow to do what he has promised, as some think. Instead, he is patient with you, because he does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants all to turn away from their sins.

^10 (B)But the Day of the Lord will come like a thief. On that Day the heavens will disappear with a shrill noise, the heavenly bodies will burn up and be destroyed, and the earth with everything in it will vanish.^{[a] 11} Since all these things will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people should you be? Your lives should be holy and dedicated to God, ¹² as you wait for the Day of God and do your best to make it come soon—the Day when the heavens will burn up and be destroyed, and the heavenly bodies will be melted by the heat. ^13 (C)But we wait for what God has promised: new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness will be at home.

¹⁴ And so, my friends, as you wait for that Day, do your best to be pure and faultless in God's sight and to be at peace with him. ¹⁵ Look on our Lord's patience as the opportunity he is giving you to be saved, just as our dear friend Paul wrote to you, using the wisdom that God gave him.