
{1}1{/}

{R}_{I}1_{/}Symeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those 
who have been sanctified by our God and Savior Jesus Christ and 
have received a faith as precious as ours:
{R}_{I}2_{/}may grace and peace abound in you through the knowledge of 
God and of Jesus our Lord. 

{N}WE SHARE IN THE DIVINE NATURE{/}

[\u0095]_[=]_{I}3_{/}His divine power has given us everything we need for 
life and piety. First the knowledge of the One who called us 
through his own Glory and Might, by which we were given the most 
extraordinary and precious promises. {I}4_{/}Through them you share in 
the divine nature, after repelling the{I}_{/}corruption and evil 
desires of this world.
{I}5_{/}So, strive with the greatest determination and increase your 
faith with strength, strength with knowledge, [=]_{I}6_{/}knowledge 
with moderation, moderation with constancy, constancy with piety, 
{I}7_{/}piety with mutual affection, mutual affection with charity. 
{R}_{I}8_{/}If all these riches are in you so as to abound in you, you 
will not be idle and useless; you will rather be rooted in the 
knowledge of Jesus Christ our Lord. {I}9_{/}Whoever is not aware of 
this is blind and shortsighted and is forgetful of the cleansing 
of former sins.
{R}_{I}10_{/}Therefore, brothers and sisters, strive more and more to 
respond to the call of God who chose you. If you do so, you will 
never stumble. {R}_{I}11_{/}Moreover you will be generously granted entry 
to the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
[=]_{I}12_{/}So I shall always remind you of these things, though you 
know them and remain firm in the truth that you have. {I}13_{/}It 
seems fitting that as long as I live in the tent of this body, I 
refresh your memory of them, [=]_{R}_{I}14_{/}knowing that my tent may 
soon be folded up, as our Lord Jesus Christ has shown me. {I}15_{/}I 
will, nonetheless, endeavor to see that after my departure, you 
will be constantly reminded of all this.

{N}THE FOUNDATION OF FAITH{/}

{R}_{I}16_{/}Indeed, what we taught you about the power and the return of 
Christ Jesus our Lord was not drawn from myths or formulated 
theories. We ourselves were eyewitnesses of his majesty, 
[=]_{R}_{I}17_{/}when he received glory and honor from God the Father, 
when from the magnificent Glory this most extraordinary word came 
upon him: "This is my beloved Son, this is my Chosen One." {I}18_{/}We 
ourselves heard this voice from heaven when we were with him on 
the holy mountain.
{R}_{I}19_{/}Therefore, we believe most firmly in the message of the 
prophets which you should consider rightly as a lamp shining in a 
dark place, until the break of day, when the Morning Star shines 
in your hearts.
[=]_{I}20_{/}Know this well: no prophecy of Scripture can be handed 
over to private interpretation, [*]_{R}_{I}21_{/}since no prophecy comes 
from human decision, for it was men of God, moved by the Holy 
Spirit, who spoke.

{N}FALSE TEACHERS{/}

{1}2{/}

[\u0095]_{R}_{I}1_{/}Just as there have been false prophets in the midst of 
the people of Israel, so will there be false teachers among you. 
They will introduce harmful sects and, by denying the Master who 
saved them, they will bring upon themselves sudden perdition. 
{I}2_{/}Many, nonetheless, will imitate their vices and because of 
them the Way of Truth will be discredited. {I}3_{/}They will take 
advantage of you with deceitful words for the sake of money. But 
their condemnation{I}_{/}has already begun and their destruction 
awaits them.
{R}_{I}4_{/}In fact, God did not pardon the angels who sinned but cast 
them into hell, confining them in the dark pits, keeping them 
there until the Day of Judgment. [=]_{R}_{I}5_{/}Neither did he pardon 
the ancient world when he unleashed the waters of the flood upon 
the world of wicked people, but protected only Noah, the eighth 
prophet of righteousness. [=]_{R}_{I}6_{/}God also condemned the cities 
of Sodom and Gomorrah, reducing them to ashes, to serve as a 
warning to the wicked in the future. {R}_{I}7_{/}But he saved Lot, a good 
man deeply afflicted by the unbridled conduct of those vicious 
people. {R}_{I}8_{/}For Lot, a righteous man who lived in their midst, 
suffered day after day in the goodness of his heart as he saw and 
heard of their crimes.
{I}9_{/}So, then, the Lord knows how to free from trial those who 
serve him and keep the wicked for punishment on the Day of 
Judgment.
[=]_{I}10_{/}He will do this especially for certain people who follow 
the baser desires of their nature and despise the Lord's majesty. 
Proud and daring they are not afraid of insulting fallen spirits 
{I}11_{/}while the angels, who are superior to them in strength and 
power, do not permit themselves any injurious accusation in the 
presence of the Lord.
[=]_{I}12_{/}Those people are like irrational animals born to be 
caught and killed; after they have slandered what they cannot 
understand, they will end like animals [=]_{I}13_{/}and they will 
suffer the repayment of their wickedness. 
They enjoy fleeting pleasures; they are obscene and vicious who 
delight in deceiving you when they share in your fraternal meals. 
{I}14_{/}They cannot look at a woman without desiring her, they do not 
tire of sinning and seducing weak souls. They are full of greed - 
an accursed people.
[=]_{I}15_{/}They abandoned the right way and followed Balaam, son of 
Beor who was attached to what he gained from his wrongdoing. 
{R}_{I}16_{/}But he was rebuked for his sin: his she-ass began to speak 
with a human voice, stopping the prophet in his madness. 
{I}17_{/}These people are like waterless springs, clouds driven by a 
storm which move swiftly into the blackest darkness.
{I}18_{/}With their boastful and empty discourses, they encourage the 
lust and impure desire of those who have just freed themselves 
from the common errors.
{R}_{I}19_{/}They promise freedom when they themselves are slaves of 
corruption: for people are slaves to whatever dominates them. 
[=]_{R}_{I}20_{/}Indeed, after being freed from worldly vices through the 
knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they returned to 
those vices and surrendered to them; and their present state has 
become worse than the first. {I}21_{/}It would have been better for 
them not to have known the way of holiness{I}_{/}than, knowing it, to 
turn away from the sacred doctrine that they had been taught. 
[=]_{I}22_{/}In their case these proverbs are relevant: "The dog turns 
back to its own vomit," and: "Hardly has the pig been washed than 
it again wallows in the mud."

{N}WHY IS THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST DELAYED?{/}

{1}3{/}

[\u0095]_{I}1_{/}Dearly beloved, this is the second letter I write to you. 
In{I}_{/}both of them I have intended to remind you of sound doctrine. 
[=]_{R}_{I}2_{/}Do not forget the words of the holy prophets and the 
teaching of our Lord{I}_{/}and Savior, as you heard it through his 
apostles.
{I}3_{/}Remember, first of all, that in the last days scoffers will 
appear, their mockery serving their evil desires. {I}4_{/}And they 
will say, "What has become of his promised coming? Since our 
fathers in faith died, everything still goes on as it was from the 
beginning of the world." {R}_{I}5_{/}Indeed, they deliberately ignore 
that in the beginning the heavens existed first and earth appeared 
from the water, taking its form by the word of God. {R}_{I}6_{/}By the 
same word of God, this world perished in the Flood. {R}_{I}7_{/}Likewise, 
the Word of God maintains the present heavens and earth until 
their destruction by fire; they are kept for the Day of Judgment 
when the godless will be destroyed. [=]_{I}8_{/}Do not forget, 
beloved, that with the Lord, one day is like a thousand years, and 
a thousand years is like one day. [=]_{R}_{I}9_{/}The Lord does not delay 
in fulfilling his promise, though some speak of delay; rather he 
gives you time because he does not want anyone to perish, but that 
all may come to conversion. [=]_{I}10_{/}The Day of the Lord is to 
come like a thief. Then the heavens will dissolve with a great 
noise; the elements will melt away by fire, and the earth with all 
that is on it will be burned up.
{I}11_{/}Since all things are to vanish, how holy and religious your 
way of life must be, {R}_{I}12_{/}as you wait for the Day of God and long 
for its coming, when the heavens will dissolve in fire and the 
elements melt away in the heat. [=]_{R}_{I}13_{/}We wait for a new heaven 
and a new earth in which justice reigns, according to God's 
promise.
{R}_{I}14_{/}Therefore, beloved, as you wait in expectation of this, 
strive that God may find you rooted in peace, without blemish or 
fault.
{R}_{I}15_{/}And consider that God's patience is for our salvation, as 
our beloved brother Paul wrote to you, with the wisdom given him. 
{I}16_{/}He speaks of these things in all his letters. There are, 
however, some points in them that are difficult to understand, 
which people who are ignorant and immature in their faith twist, 
as they do with the rest of the Scriptures, to their own 
destruction.
{I}17_{/}So then, dearly beloved, as you have been warned, be careful 
lest those people who have gone astray deceive you in turn and 
drag you along, making you stumble and finally fall away. 
[=]_{R}_{I}18_{/}Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior 
Jesus Christ: to him be glory, now and to the day of eternity. 
Amen.

