Above all, you must understand that in the last days(A) scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires.(B) They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised?(C) Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.”(D) But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word(E) the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water.(F) By these waters also the world of that time(G) was deluged and destroyed.(H) By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire,(I) being kept for the day of judgment(J) and destruction of the ungodly.

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Most importantly, I want to remind you that in the last days scoffers will come, mocking the truth and following their own desires. They will say, “What happened to the promise that Jesus is coming again? From before the times of our ancestors, everything has remained the same since the world was first created.”

They deliberately forget that God made the heavens long ago by the word of his command, and he brought the earth out from the water and surrounded it with water. Then he used the water to destroy the ancient world with a mighty flood. And by the same word, the present heavens and earth have been stored up for fire. They are being kept for the day of judgment, when ungodly people will be destroyed.

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Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,

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 the creation.

For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:

Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:

But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

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The Coming Day of the Lord

First of all, know [without any doubt] that mockers will come in the last days with their mocking, following after their own human desires and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming [what has become of it]? For ever since the fathers fell asleep [in death], all things have continued [exactly] as they did from the beginning of creation.” For they willingly forget [the fact] that the heavens existed long ago by the word of God, and the earth was formed [a]out of water and by water, through which the world at that time was destroyed by being flooded with water.(A) But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly people.

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Footnotes

  1. 2 Peter 3:5 Peter is not referring to the creation of earth from water, but to the appearance of land masses from the water that had covered the earth in the early stages of creation. His point is that the mockers who will claim that things continue to be just as they always have been will be overlooking the fact that the status quo, as they see it, took an act of God to create in the first place, and God has already intervened in the history of the world once to wipe out mankind by a cataclysmic flood (v 6; cf Gen 6; 7).