Above all, you do well if you recognize<n id="1" /> this:<n id="2" /> No prophecy of scripture ever comes about by the prophet&#8217;s own imagination,<n id="3" />

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

<t /><p class="bodytext">I can pray this because his divine power<n id="1" /> has bestowed on us everything necessary<n id="2" /> for life and godliness through the rich knowledge<n id="3" /> of the one who called<n id="4" /> us by<n id="5" /> his own glory and excellence.

For this very reason,<n id="1" /> make every effort<n id="2" /> to add to your faith excellence,<n id="3" /> to excellence, knowledge;

and saying,<n id="1" /> &#8220;Where is his promised return?<n id="2" /> For ever since<n id="3" /> our ancestors<n id="4" /> died,<n id="5" /> all things have continued as they were<n id="6" /> from the beginning of creation.&#8221;

The Lord is not slow concerning his promise,<n id="1" /> as some regard slowness, but is being patient toward you, because he does not wish<n id="2" /> for any<n id="3" /> to perish but for all to come to repentance.<n id="4" />

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