3 Beloved, I am now writing you this second letter. In [both of] them I have stirred up your unsullied (sincere) mind by way of remembrance,

² That you should recall the predictions of the holy (consecrated, dedicated) prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior [given] through your apostles (His special messengers).

³ To begin with, you must know and understand this, that scoffers (mockers) will come in the last days with scoffing, [people who] walk after their own fleshly desires

⁴ And say, Where is the promise of His coming? For since the forefathers fell asleep, all things have continued exactly as they did from the beginning of creation.

⁵ For they willfully overlook and forget this [fact], that the heavens [came into] existence long ago by the word of God, and the earth also which was formed out of water and by means of water,

⁶ Through which the world that then [existed] was deluged with water and perished.^(A)

⁷ But by the same word the present heavens and earth have been stored up (reserved) for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly people.

⁸ Nevertheless, do not let this one fact escape you, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day.^(B)

⁹ The Lord does not delay and is not tardy or slow about what He promises, according to some people’s conception of slowness, but He is long-suffering (extraordinarily patient) toward you, not desiring that any should perish, but that all should turn to repentance.

¹⁰ But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will vanish (pass away) with a thunderous crash, and the [^[a]material] elements [of the universe] will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and the works that are upon it will be burned up.

¹¹ Since all these things are thus ^[b]in the process of being dissolved, what kind of person ought [each of] you to be [in the meanwhile] in consecrated and holy behavior and devout and godly qualities,

¹² While you wait and earnestly long for (expect and hasten) the coming of the day of God by reason of which the flaming heavens will be dissolved, and the [^[c]material] elements [of the universe] will flare and melt with fire?^(C)

¹³ But we look for new heavens and a new earth according to His promise, in which righteousness (uprightness, freedom from sin, and right standing with God) is to abide.^(D)

¹⁴ So, beloved, since you are expecting these things, be eager to be found by Him [at His coming] without spot or blemish and at peace [in serene confidence, ^[d]free from fears and agitating passions and moral conflicts].

¹⁵ And consider that the long-suffering of our Lord [^[e]His slowness in avenging wrongs and judging the world] is salvation (^[f]that which is conducive to the soul’s safety), even as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the spiritual insight given him,

¹⁶ Speaking of this as he does in all of his letters. There are some things in those [epistles of Paul] that are difficult to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist and misconstrue to their own ^[g]utter destruction, just as [they distort and misinterpret] the rest of the Scriptures.

¹⁷ Let me warn you therefore, beloved, that knowing these things beforehand, you should be on your guard, lest you be carried away by the error of lawless and wicked [persons and] fall from your own [present] firm condition [your own steadfastness of mind].

¹⁸ But grow in grace (undeserved favor, spiritual strength) and ^[h]recognition and knowledge and understanding of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (the Messiah). To Him [be] glory (honor, majesty, and splendor) both now and to the day of eternity. Amen (so be it)!

43 Afterward the man [an angel] brought me to the gate, the gate that faces east.

² And behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the east and His voice was like the sound of many waters, and the earth shone with His glory.^(A)

³ And the vision which I saw was like the vision I had seen when I came to foretell the destruction of the city and like the vision I had seen beside the river Chebar [near Babylon]; and I fell on my face.^(B)

⁴ And the glory of the Lord entered the temple by the gate facing east.

⁵ Then the Spirit caught me up and brought me into the inner court, and behold, the glory of the Lord filled the temple.

⁶ And I heard One speaking to me out of the temple, and a Man stood by me.

⁷ And He [the Lord] said to me, Son of man, this is the place of My throne and the place of the soles of My feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel forever; and My holy name the house of Israel shall no more profane, neither they nor their kings, by their [idolatrous] harlotry, nor by the dead bodies and monuments of their kings,

⁸ Nor by setting their threshold by My thresholds and their doorposts by My doorposts, with a mere wall between Me and them. They have profaned My holy name by their abominations which they have committed; therefore I have consumed them in My anger.

⁹ Now let them put away their [idolatrous] harlotry and the dead bodies and monuments of their kings far from Me, and I will dwell in their midst forever.

¹⁰ Son of man, show the temple by your description of it to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities; and let them measure accurately its appearance and plan.

¹¹ And if they are ashamed of all that they have done, make known to them the form of the temple and the arrangement of it—its exits and its entrances and the whole form of it—all its ordinances and all its forms and all its laws. And write it down in their sight so that they may keep the whole form of it and all the ordinances of it and do them.

¹² This is the law of the house [of the Lord]: The whole area round about on the top of the mountain ^[a][Mount Moriah] shall be most holy, separated, and set apart. Behold, this is the law of the house [of the Lord].

¹³ And these are the measurements of the altar [of burnt offering] in cubits. The cubit is a royal cubit [the length of a forearm and a palm of the hand]; the bottom or gutter shall be a cubit deep and a cubit wide, with a rim or lip round about it of a span’s breadth. And this shall be the height of the altar:

¹⁴ From the bottom or gutter on the ground to the lower ledge or brim shall be two cubits, and the breadth one cubit; and from the lesser ledge to the greater ledge shall be four cubits, and the breadth one cubit.

¹⁵ And the altar hearth shall be four cubits high, and from the altar hearth reaching upward there shall be four horns one cubit high.

¹⁶ And the altar hearth shall be square—twelve cubits long, twelve broad, square in its four sides.

¹⁷ And the ledge shall be fourteen cubits long and fourteen cubits broad on its four sides, and the border about it shall be half a cubit; and its bottom or gutter shall be a cubit deep and wide, and its ascent [not steps] shall face the east.^(C)

¹⁸ And [the Lord] said to me, Son of man, thus says the Lord God: These are the regulations for the use of the altar in the day that it is erected, upon which to offer burnt offerings and to sprinkle blood against it:

¹⁹ You shall give to the priests, the Levites who are of the offspring of Zadok, who are near to Me to minister to Me, says the Lord God, a young bull for a sin offering.

²⁰ And you shall take of its blood and put it on the four horns of [the altar of burnt offering] and on the four corners of the ledge and on the rim or border round about. Thus shall you cleanse and make atonement for [the altar].

²¹ You shall also take the bullock of the sin offering, and it shall be burned in the appointed place of the temple, outside the sacred enclosure.^(D)

²² And on the second day you shall offer a male goat without blemish for a sin offering. Thus the altar shall be cleansed, as it was cleansed with the bullock.

²³ When you have finished cleansing it, you shall offer a young bull without blemish and a ram out of the flock without blemish.

²⁴ And you shall bring them near before the Lord, and the priests shall cast salt upon them and they shall offer them up for a burnt offering to the Lord.

²⁵ Seven days you shall prepare every day a goat for a sin offering; also a young bull and a ram out of the flock, without blemish, shall be prepared.

²⁶ For seven days shall they make atonement for the altar and purify it; so the priests shall consecrate, separate, and set it apart to receive offerings.^(E)

²⁷ And when these days have been accomplished, on the eighth day and from then on, the priests shall offer your burnt offerings upon the altar and your peace offerings; and I will accept you, says the Lord God.^(F)