2 Peter 3:2

3:2 I want you to recall ¹  both ²  the predictions ³  foretold by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles. ⁴ 

2 Peter 2:7

2:7 and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man in anguish over the debauched lifestyle of lawless ⁵  men, ⁶ 

2 Peter 1:9

1:9 But ⁷  concerning the one who lacks such things ⁸  – he is blind. That is to say, he is ⁹  nearsighted, since he has forgotten about the cleansing of his past sins.

2 Peter 3:3

3:3 Above all, understand this: ¹⁰  In the last days blatant scoffers ¹¹  will come, being propelled by their own evil urges ¹² 

2 Peter 3:7

3:7 But by the same word the present heavens and earth have been reserved for fire, by being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. ¹³ 

2 Peter 3:17

3:17 Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, ¹⁴  be on your guard that you do not get led astray by the error of these unprincipled men ¹⁵  and fall from your firm grasp on the truth. ¹⁶ 

2 Peter 2:20

2:20 For if after they have escaped the filthy things ¹⁷  of the world through the rich knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, ¹⁸  they ¹⁹  again get entangled in them and succumb to them, ²⁰  their last state has become worse for them than their first.

¹ tn Grk “to remember.” “I want you” is supplied to smooth out the English. The Greek infinitive is subordinate to the previous clause.

² tn “Both” is not in Greek; it is supplied to show more clearly that there are two objects of the infinitive “to remember” – predictions and commandment.

³ tn Grk “words.” In conjunction with πρόειπον (proeipon), however, the meaning of the construction is that the prophets uttered prophecies.

⁴ sn Holy prophets…apostles. The first chapter demonstrated that the OT prophets were trustworthy guides (1:19-21) and that the NT apostles were also authoritative (1:16-18). Now, using the same catch phrase found in the Greek text of 1:20 (τοῦτο πρῶτον γινώσκοντες, touto prwton ginwskontes), Peter points to specific prophecies of the prophets as an argument against the false teachers.

⁵ tn Or “unprincipled.”

⁶ tn This verse more literally reads “And [if] he rescued righteous Lot, who was deeply distressed by the lifestyle of the lawless in [their] debauchery.”

⁹ tn Grk “for.” The connection, though causal, is also adversative.

¹⁰ tn Grk “to the one for whom these things are not present.”

¹¹ tn The words “that is to say, he is” are not in Greek. The word order is unusual. One might expect the author to have said “he is nearsighted and blind” (as the NIV has so construed it), but this is not the word order in Greek. Perhaps the author begins with a strong statement followed by a clarification, i.e., that being nearsighted in regard to these virtues is as good as being blind.

¹³ tn Grk “knowing this [to be] foremost.” Τοῦτο πρῶτον (touto prwton) constitute the object and complement of γινώσκοντες (ginwskonte"). The participle is loosely dependent on the infinitive in v. 2 (“[I want you] to recall”), perhaps in a telic sense (thus, “[I want you] to recall…[and especially] to understand this as foremost”). The following statement then would constitute the main predictions with which the author was presently concerned. An alternative is to take it imperativally: “Above all, know this.” In this instance, however, there is little semantic difference (since a telic participle and imperatival participle end up urging an action). Cf. also 2 Pet 1:20.

¹⁴ tn The Greek reads “scoffers in their scoffing” for “blatant scoffers.” The use of the cognate dative is a Semitism designed to intensify the word it is related to. The idiom is foreign to English. As a Semitism, it is further incidental evidence of the authenticity of the letter (see the note on “Simeon” in 1:1 for other evidence).

¹⁵ tn Grk “going according to their own evil urges.”

¹⁷ tn Grk “the ungodly people.”

²¹ tn Grk “knowing beforehand.”

²² tn Or “lawless ones.”

²³ tn Grk “fall from your firmness.”

²⁵ tn Grk “defilements”; “contaminations”; “pollutions.”

²⁶ sn Through the rich knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The implication is not that these people necessarily knew the Lord (in the sense of being saved), but that they were in the circle of those who had embraced Christ as Lord and Savior.

²⁷ tn Grk “(and/but) they.”

²⁸ tn Grk “they again, after becoming entangled in them, are overcome by them.”