³ First, know this: In the last days scoffers will come with their mocking, following their own lusts. ⁴ They will say, “Where is this promised coming of his? For from the time that our fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they have from the beginning of the creation.” ⁵ You see, what they are intentionally forgetting is that the heavens came into existence long ago by the word of God and that the earth came together out of the water and between the waters.^{[a] 6} Through these waters the former world perished, when it was flooded with water. ⁷ And now, by that same word, the heavens and earth have been stored up for fire, since they are being kept until the day of judgment and the destruction of the ungodly.