Now, dear friends, do not let this one thing escape your notice, ¹  that a single day is like a thousand years with the Lord and a thousand years are like a single day.

Therefore, dear friends, since you are waiting for ¹  these things, strive to be found ²  at peace, without spot or blemish, when you come into his presence. ³ 

speaking of these things in all his letters. ¹  Some things in these letters ²  are hard to understand, things ³  the ignorant and unstable twist ⁴  to their own destruction, as they also do to the rest of the scriptures. ⁵ 

and if he did not spare the ancient world, but did protect Noah, a herald of righteousness, along with seven others, ¹  when God ²  brought a flood on an ungodly world, ³ 

(for while he lived among them day after day, that righteous man was tormented in his righteous soul ¹  by the lawless deeds he saw and heard ² )

Dear friends, this is already the second letter I have written ¹  you, in which ²  I am trying to stir up ³  your pure mind by way of reminder:

Since all these things are to melt away ¹  in this manner, ²  what sort of people must we ³  be, conducting our lives in holiness and godliness, ⁴ 

Above all, you do well if you recognize ¹  this: ²  No prophecy of scripture ever comes about by the prophet’s own imagination, ³ 

and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man in anguish over the debauched lifestyle of lawless ¹  men, ² 

Their eyes, ¹  full of adultery, ²  never stop sinning; ³  they entice ⁴  unstable people. ⁵  They have trained their hearts for greed, these cursed children! ⁶ 

Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, ¹  be on your guard that you do not get led astray by the error of these unprincipled men ²  and fall from your firm grasp on the truth. ³ 

Through these things ¹  he has bestowed on us his precious and most magnificent promises, so that by means of what was promised ²  you may become partakers of the divine nature, ³  after escaping ⁴  the worldly corruption that is produced by evil desire. ⁵ 

Moreover, ¹  we ²  possess the prophetic word as an altogether reliable thing. ³  You do well if you pay attention ⁴  to this ⁵  as you would ⁶  to a light shining in a murky place, until the day dawns and the morning star ⁷  rises in your hearts. ⁸ 

– if so, ¹  then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from their trials, ²  and to reserve the unrighteous for punishment ³  at the day of judgment,

yet even ¹  angels, who are much more powerful, ²  do not bring a slanderous ³  judgment against them before the Lord. ⁴ 

But, according to his promise, we are waiting for ¹  new heavens and a new earth, in which ²  righteousness truly resides. ³ 

For if after they have escaped the filthy things ¹  of the world through the rich knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, ²  they ³  again get entangled in them and succumb to them, ⁴  their last state has become worse for them than their first.

I can pray this because his divine power ¹  has bestowed on us everything necessary ²  for life and godliness through the rich knowledge ³  of the one who called ⁴  us by ⁵  his own glory and excellence.

For if ¹  these things are really yours ²  and are continually increasing, ³  they will keep you from becoming ⁴  ineffective and unproductive in your pursuit of ⁵  knowing our Lord Jesus Christ more intimately. ⁶ 

But ¹  these men, ²  like irrational animals – creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed ³  – do not understand whom ⁴  they are insulting, and consequently ⁵  in their destruction they will be destroyed, ⁶