promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what anyone is overcome, by this he is enslaved.

For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first.

It has happened to them according to the true proverb, “A dog returns to its own vomit,” and, “A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire.”

Purpose of This Letter

Beloved, this is now the second letter I am writing to you in which I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of a reminder,

to remember the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken by your apostles.

and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue just as they were from the beginning of creation.”

The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not willing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance.

Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness,

Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found spotless and blameless by Him, at peace,

and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you,

as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which there are some things that are hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.

You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unscrupulous people and lose your own firm commitment,

but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.