Book of Common Prayer

3 My dear brothers, this is my second letter to you. In both of my letters I have tried to bring some things to your good minds.

² I want you to remember what God's prophets said would happen. And I want you to remember what we apostles told you that our Lord and Saviour said.

³ Here is the first thing. In the last days, men will come who will make fun of holy things. They will do what they themselves want to do.

⁴ They will say, `He promised to come. Where is he? Our fathers have died. And since then everything is just the same as it has been since the world was made.'

⁵ They do not want to remember that long ago God spoke and made the sky. He made the land come up from the water.

⁶ But later on these same waters covered the world in a flood and the people died.

⁷ The sky and the earth that are here now are being kept because God spoke. They are kept to be burned up. This will happen on the day when God judges people and they will die.

⁸ My dear brothers, do not forget this one thing. One day is like a thousand years to the Lord. And a thousand years are like one day.

⁹ God will do what he promised. He is not slow though, as some people think he is. But he is waiting a long time for you. He does not want anyone to die, but he wants all people to stop their wrong ways.

¹⁰ The day of the Lord will come like a man who wants to steal. There will be a loud noise and the sky will go away. The elements will melt with fire and they will be gone. The earth and everything on it will be burned up.

25 Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten young women took their lamps and went to meet a man who was being married.

² Five of them were foolish and five of them were wise.

³ The five foolish women took their lamps but took no oil with them.

⁴ The wise ones took bottles of oil with their lamps.

⁵ `It was a long time before the man came, so they all went to sleep.

⁶ At midnight there was a call, "Here comes the man who is to be married! Come out to meet him."

⁷ Then all the young women woke up. They cleaned their lamps.

⁸ The foolish ones said to the wise ones, "Give us some of your oil. The light in our lamps is dying."

⁹ But the wise ones answered, "There may not be enough oil for us all. Go to the market and buy some for yourselves."

¹⁰ `While they went away to buy oil, the man came. Those who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast. Then the door was shut.

¹¹ After that, the other women also came. They called, "Sir, sir, open the door for us."

¹² But he said, "I tell you the truth. I do not know you."

¹³ So watch! You do not know the day or the hour.'