Chronological

1 ¶ Simon Peter, slave and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those that have obtained like precious faith with us in the righteousness of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ:

² Grace and peace be multiplied unto you in the knowledge of God and of our Lord Jesus,

³ as all things that pertain to life and to godliness are given us of his divine power, through the knowledge of him that has called us by his glory and virtue,

⁴ whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these ye might be made participants of the divine nature, having fled the corruption that is in the world through lust.

⁵ ¶ Ye also, giving all diligence to the same, show forth virtue in your faith; and in virtue, knowledge;

⁶ and in knowledge, temperance; and in temperance, patience; and in patience, fear of God;

⁷ and in fear of God, brotherly love; and in brotherly love, charity.

⁸ For if these things are in you and abound, they shall not let you be idle nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁹ But he that lacks these things is blind and walks feeling the way with his hand, having forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.

¹⁰ Therefore, brethren, give all the more diligence to make your calling and election sure; for doing these things, ye shall never fall.

¹¹ Because in this manner the entrance shall be abundantly administered unto you in the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

¹² ¶ For this reason, I will not leave off reminding you always of these things, although ye know them and are established in the present truth.

¹³ Because I have the right (as long as I am in this tabernacle) to stir you up by reminding you,

¹⁴ knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ has declared unto me.

¹⁵ I will also make sure with diligence that after my decease ye might remember these things.

¹⁶ ¶ For we have not made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, following cunningly devised fables, but as eyewitnesses of his majesty.

¹⁷ For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

¹⁸ And we heard this voice which came from heaven, when we were together with him in the holy mount.

¹⁹ ¶ We have also the most sure word of the prophets, unto which ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts,

²⁰ understanding this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.

²¹ For the prophecy did not come in times past by the will of man, but the holy men of God spoke being inspired by the Holy Spirit.

2 ¶ But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who covertly shall bring in destructive sects and shall deny the Lord that bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.

² And many shall follow their pernicious ways, by reason of whom the way of truth shall be blasphemed;

³ ¶ and in covetousness they shall make merchandise of you with feigned words, upon whom the condemnation from a long time ago does not delay, and their perdition does not sleep.

⁴ For if God did not forgive the angels that sinned, but cast them down into the deepest abyss {Gr. Tartarus} and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;

⁵ and if he did not forgive the old world, but kept Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven other persons, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;

⁶ and if he condemned by destruction the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha, turning them into ashes, making them an example unto those that after should live without fear and reverence of God;

⁷ ¶ and delivered just Lot, who was persecuted by those abominable people because of their nefarious conversation;

⁸ (for that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, afflicted his righteous soul from day to day with the deeds of those unjust people);

⁹ the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished;

¹⁰ ¶ and chiefly those that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise dominion; presumptuous, arrogant, they are not afraid to speak evil of the higher powers;

¹¹ whereas even the angels, who are greater in power and might, bring no curse of judgment against them before the Lord.

¹² But these, speaking evil of the things that they do not understand (as natural animals without reason, who are made to be taken and destroyed), shall utterly perish in their own corruption,

¹³ receiving the reward of their unrighteousness, as those that count it pleasure to live luxuriously every day. These are spots and blemishes, who eat together with you, while at the same time they revel in their deceit,

¹⁴ having their eyes full of adultery, and not knowing how to cease from sin, baiting unstable souls, having their heart exercised in covetous practices; cursed sons,

¹⁵ who forsaking the right way have erred, having followed the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness,

¹⁶ and was rebuked for his iniquity; a dumb animal accustomed to a yoke (upon which he was seated), speaking with man’s voice, hindered the madness of the prophet.

¹⁷ These are wells without water, clouds that are brought by a whirlwind, to whom gross darkness is reserved for ever.

¹⁸ For speaking arrogant words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from those who converse in error,

¹⁹ promising them liberty, being they themselves the slaves of corruption: for he who is overcome by someone is subject to bondage by the one that overcame him.

²⁰ Certainly, if having separated themselves from the contaminations of the world, by the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they again entangle themselves therein and are overcome, their latter end is made worse for them than the beginnings.

²¹ For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn back from the holy commandment delivered unto them.

²² But it has happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog returns unto his own vomit, and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.

3 ¶ Beloved, I now write unto you this second epistle, in which I alert with exhortation your pure understanding,

² that ye keep in memory the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets and of our commandment, that we are apostles of the Lord and Saviour,

³ ¶ knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts

⁴ and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? For since the day in which the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.

⁵ Of course, they willingly ignore that the heavens were created of old and the earth standing out of the water and in the water, by the word of God;

⁶ by which the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished;

⁷ but the heavens, which are now, and the earth are conserved by the same word, kept unto the fire in the day of judgment and of perdition of the ungodly men.

⁸ ¶ But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day before the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years are as one day.

⁹ ¶ The Lord is not late concerning his promise, as some count lateness, but is patient with us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

¹⁰ But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements, burning, shall be dissolved, and the earth and the works that are in it shall be burned up.

¹¹ ¶ Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,

¹² waiting for and desiring earnestly for the coming of the day of God, in which the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?

¹³ Nevertheless we, according to his promises, wait for new heavens and a new earth, in which dwells righteousness.

¹⁴ Therefore, beloved, seeing that ye hope for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot and blameless.

¹⁵ And have as saving health the patience of our Lord, even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him has written unto you

¹⁶ in almost all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, among which are some things that are hard to understand, which those that are ignorant and unstable twist, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.

¹⁷ Ye, therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things in advance, be on guard lest by the error of the wicked ye be deceived with the others and fall from your own steadfastness.

¹⁸ But grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and until the day of eternity. Amen.z

¹ ¶ Jude, slave of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to those that are called, sanctified in God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ:

² Mercy and peace and charity be multiplied unto you.

³ ¶ Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you that ye should earnestly persevere in the faith which was given once unto the saints.

⁴ For there are certain men crept in unawares without fear or reverence of God, who from beforehand have been ordained unto this condemnation, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness and denying God who alone has dominion, and our Lord Jesus, the Christ.

⁵ I will, therefore, remind you, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those that did not believe.

⁶ And the angels who did not keep their first estate but left their own habitation, he has reserved in eternal chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.

⁷ Even as Sodom and Gomorrha and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication and going after strange flesh, were set forth for an example, having received the judgment of eternal fire.

⁸ ¶ In the same manner these deceived dreamers, defile their flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of higher powers.

⁹ Yet when Michael, the archangel, contended with the devil, disputing over the body of Moses, he dared not bring against him a curse of judgment, but said, The Lord reprehend thee.

¹⁰ But these speak evil of those things which they do not know; but what they know by nature as animals without reason, in those things they corrupt themselves.

¹¹ Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward and perished in the gainsaying of Core.

¹² These are spots in your banquets of charity, feeding themselves without any fear whatsoever: clouds without water, carried to and fro of the winds; trees withered as in fall, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;

¹³ raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own abominations; erratic stars, to whom is reserved gross darkness eternally.

¹⁴ And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his saints

¹⁵ ¶ to execute judgment upon all and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have unfaithfully committed and of all the hard words which the unfaithful sinners have spoken against him.

¹⁶ These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own desires; and their mouth speaks arrogant things, admiring persons to take advantage.

¹⁷ But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ,

¹⁸ how that they told you, That in the last time there would be mockers, who would walk after their own ungodly desires.

¹⁹ These are those who make divisions, and are as animals, not having the Spirit.

²⁰ But ye, beloved, building up yourselves upon your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,

²¹ keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, unto eternal life,

²² And receive some with mercy, discerning;

²³ And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.

²⁴ Now unto him that is powerful to keep you without sin and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,

²⁵ to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, now and in all the ages. Amen.