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Written for Jesus’ Apostle Peter, possibly in Aramaic, sometime before his death in or near Babylon around 66-CE.

Chapter 1

¹ Simon Peter, a slave and Apostle of Jesus the Anointed One, to all those that are precious to us and have received their share of faith by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus the Anointed One;
² May you grow in loving care and peace by coming to a higher knowledge of The God, and of our Lord Jesus.
³ For He has granted us all of His Divine Power when it comes to [clean] living and godliness through the knowledge of the one that called us to his own glory and virtue, ⁴ and through whom He has given us the most precious and greatest promises, so that through these things you might become sharers in the divine nature now that you’ve left the corrupt desires of this system of things.

⁵ And then, after you’ve zealously done all of this,
Add virtue to your faith,
Knowledge to [your] virtue,
⁶ Self-control to [your] knowledge,
Endurance to [your] self-control,
Piety to [your] endurance,
⁷ Brotherly-love to [your] piety,
And pure love to [your] brotherly love.

⁸ For if you’re filled and overflowing with these things, they will keep you from being lazy or from failing to produce fruitage when it comes to gaining a higher knowledge of our Lord Jesus the Anointed One.

⁹ However, there are those in whom these qualities are not present, for they’ve proven to be short-sighted and they’ve forgotten how they had once been purified, so they’ve returned to their old sinful ways!

¹⁰ Therefore, brothers; be zealous when it comes to making your calling and electing a sure thing!
For if you can do that, you’ll never stumble, ¹¹ and you’ll be richly supplied with entry into the age-long Kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Anointed.

¹² This is why I always want to remind you of these things, despite the fact that you already know [them] and are firmly rooted in the truth.
¹³ However, as long as I must live in this temporary dwelling, I will consider it righteous to shake you and remind you, ¹⁴ since I realize that this ‘tent’ will soon be set aside, as our Lord Jesus the Anointed One has indicated to me.
¹⁵ Therefore, I’m going to do everything that I can whenever I can, so that you’ll keep on reminding each other of these things after I’m gone.

¹⁶ Now, what we’ve told you about the power and appearance of the Lord Jesus the Anointed One wasn’t some myth that we just made up. Rather, we were eyewitnesses to his magnificence!
¹⁷ For he was honored and glorified by God (the Father) through a voice that came to him, which glorified him in an appropriate way when it said,
‘This is My Son whom I love and of whom I have approved!’

¹⁸ Yes, we heard these words from heaven itself as we were there with him on the Holy Mountain!
¹⁹ And by this, we had the prophetic words made surer to us.
So, you will do well to pay attention to them.
For [these words] are like a lamp that will illuminate the dark places until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts.

²⁰ Understand this:
None of the prophecies in the Scriptures came from [anyone’s own] ideas, ²¹ nor [were they spoken] just because some men wanted to prophesy.
Rather, men spoke from God as they were being born along by [His] Holy Breath.

Chapter 2

¹ However, there have also been false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you.
These will introduce destructive heresies and deny the master that bought them, which will bring swift destruction upon them.

² Yet, many will follow them into their dirty deeds.
And because of this, the way of the truth will be slandered.

³ Also, since such ones will desire whatever you have, they will worm their way [in among you] with carefully-planned words.
However, the ancient judgment upon them will not be delayed and their destruction hasn’t fallen asleep.

⁴ Notice that God didn’t spare the angels that sinned, for He threw them into the dark pits of Tartarus where they are still awaiting His justice.

⁵ Nor did He spare the first system of things…
Though He guarded Noah (who was a preacher of righteousness) along with seven others, when He brought a downpour upon that world of godless people.

⁶ Also, after He condemned the cities Sodom and GomorRah, He reduced them to ashes.
And all of these things are examples of what is going to happen to such godless people!

⁷ Yet, remember that [God] protected righteous Lot, who was deeply disturbed by the lewd actions of those lawless individuals.
⁸ For the wicked things that this man saw and heard each day while he was living among them tortured his righteous soul.

⁹ So, [understand that] the Lord knows how to rescue devout people from trials, while he keeps the unrighteous for a day of judgment when they will be destroyed.

¹⁰ This is especially true of those that chase after flesh in filthy acts of lust and who despise divine appointments… the self-willed who don’t tremble when they speak ill of the glorious ones.
¹¹ However, even the messengers [of God] (who are much stronger and more powerful than them) wouldn’t think of looking down on such [glorious] ones, for fear of being judged as blasphemers by the Lord.

¹² So, people like that are like unreasoning animals that were born to be caught and killed.
And because they speak badly of things that they don’t understand, they will rot in their filth.
¹³ Yes, the payback for their unrighteousness is the mistreatment of themselves.

For what brings pleasure to these people is just spending their days in luxury… they are spots and flaws that enjoy doing anything that they feel tempted to do, as they feast among you!
¹⁴ Such ones have eyes that are always full of adultery and sins, as they try to tempt those that are weak.

Yes, their hearts have been trained to want things that aren’t theirs, and they [give birth to] children that are cursed.
¹⁵ For they’ve been led away from the straight path and are directed onto the course of BalaAm [the son] of Beor, who loved the reward for doing what was wrong, ¹⁶ but was scolded for going beyond the limits by a farm animal that couldn’t speak…
Yet it did speak in a man’s voice and it stopped that crazy prophet!

¹⁷ Such people are like springs without any water and like clouds being blown by storms that are reserved for the gloom of darkness.
¹⁸ Yet they talk in big ways about stupid things, as they try to tempt [people] into following human desires and loose lifestyles…
Yes, they turn the little ones that are fleeing [this system of things] back into doing things that are wrong.
¹⁹ They keep promising them freedom, while they are personally slaves to filth…
For whoever is conquered by another, becomes his slave.

²⁰ Understand that anyone that has escaped from the filth of this system of things by coming to an accurate knowledge of our Lord and Savior (Jesus the Anointed) and then turns back to it, is conquered by it again and is worse off than he was before [he became a Christian].

²¹ Therefore, it would be better for such ones if they had never learned about the ways of righteousness than to have turned from it after they’ve been taught the ways of Holiness!
²² So what happens to them is as the proverb truthfully says:
‘The dog has returned to its own vomit, and the sow that was bathed to rolling in its manure.’

Chapter 3

¹ My loved ones;
This is now the second letter that I’ve written to you.
In the first letter, I tried to shake you into thinking clearly and remind you to ² never forget what the holy Prophets used to say, or any of the commandments that our Lord and Savior gave to us through [his] Apostles.

³ Recognize this:
In the last days there will be those that will ridicule… they’ll go their own way and do whatever they want, ⁴ then they’ll mock you by asking,
‘So, where is this appearance of his that they’ve been promising since our ancestors fell asleep?
For everything is still the same as it has been since the beginning of creation!’

⁵ However, what is hidden from them is this:
Though the ancient skies and lands were out of the water; by the Word of God, they still stood between the waters.
⁶ And it was through this that the world back then was flooded and destroyed by water.

⁷ Likewise, it’s by this same Word that what’s in store for the skies and the lands today is the fire of the Judgment Day, when those godless men will be destroyed.

⁸ But loved ones;
Don’t overlook the fact that one day to Jehovah is as a thousand years (or, thousands of years), and a thousand years (or, thousands of years) as just one day.
⁹ For the Lord isn’t slow when it comes to His promises, as some people think.
Rather, He’s being patient with you, because He doesn’t want anyone to be destroyed…
He’s allowing enough time for everyone to repent!

¹⁰ However, the Day of the Lord will come just like a thief!
And then the skies will become extremely hot, their basic parts will melt, and they will all pass away with a hissing noise…
Then the earth and everything that’s being done on it will be exposed!

¹¹ So, since all of this is about to be dissolved;
What sort of people should you be when it comes to holy conduct and godliness?

¹² Yes, we’re awaiting and anticipating the appearance of the Day of the Lord, during which the skies will burn and dissolve and their basic parts will melt due to the intense heat!
¹³ But we’re also awaiting the new skies and lands that He has promised in which righteousness will dwell!

¹⁴ Therefore, loved ones;
Since we are [truly] expecting these things, we should be swift about making ourselves flawless and spotless, so we’ll be found to be at peace with him!

¹⁵ You should think about the patience that our Lord is showing when it comes to our salvation…
Which is something that our beloved brother Paul wrote to you about through the [special] wisdom that he has been given ¹⁶ and which he speaks about in all of his letters.
Yes, some of [what he writes] is hard to understand, so it is being twisted by the ignorant and unstable, the same as they are doing to the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.

¹⁷ So to you, my loved ones:
Since you’ve been warned; be careful that you aren’t led astray by the bad things that these lawless people are doing and then lose your grip on your firm convictions.
¹⁸ Rather, keep growing in the loving care and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Anointed One.
May he be glorified now and into that age-long Day.

Note that this is the legacy version of the translation last updated in December 2020. You can also see the latest version.

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