Good News [1976], GOOD NEWS BIBLE WITH DEUTEROCANONICALS / APOCRYPHA Today's English Version (AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY, New York) [word count] [B15000].
To look up a word in a dictionary, select the word with your mouse and press 'd' on your keyboard.
The Promise of the Lord's Coming
1 My dear friends, this is now the
second letter I have written you.
In both letters I have tried to arouse
pure thoughts in your minds by reminding
you of these things.
2 I want
you to remember the words that
were spoken long ago by the holy
prophets, and the command from
the Lord and Savior which was given
you by your apostles.
3 First of all,
you must understand that in the last
days some people will appear whose
lives are controlled by their own
lusts. They will make fun of you note
4 and will ask, “He promised to
come, didn't he? Where is he? Our
fathers have already died, but everything
is still the same as it was since
the creation of the world!”
5 They
purposely ignore the fact that long
ago God gave a command, and the
heavens and earth were created. The
earth was formed out of water and
by water, note
6 and it was also by water,
the water of the flood, that the old
world was destroyed. note
7 But the heavens
and the earth that now exist are
being preserved by the same command
of God, in order to be destroyed
by fire. They are being kept
for the day when godless people will
be judged and destroyed.
8 But do not forget one thing, my
dear friends! There is no difference
in the Lord's sight between one day
and a thousand years; to him the two
are the same. note
9 The Lord is not slow
to do what he has promised, as some
think. Instead, he is patient with
you, because he does not want anyone
to be destroyed, but wants all to
turn away from their sins.
10 But the Day of the Lord will
come like a thief. On that Day the
heavens will disappear with a shrill
noise, the heavenly bodies will burn
up and be destroyed, and the earth
with everything in it will vanish. note note
11 Since all these things will be destroyed
in this way, what kind of
people should you be? Your lives
should be holy and dedicated to
God,
12 as you wait for the Day of
God and do your best to make it
come soon—the Day when the heavens
will burn up and be destroyed,
and the heavenly bodies will be
melted by the heat.
13 But we wait
for what God has promised: new
heavens and a new earth, where
righteousness will be at home. note
14 And so, my friends, as you wait
for that Day, do your best to be pure
and faultless in God's sight and to be
at peace with him.
15 Look on our
Lord's patience as the opportunity
he is giving you to be saved, just as
our dear brother Paul wrote to you,
using the wisdom that God gave
him.
16 This is what he says in all his
letters when he writes on the subject.
There are some difficult things
in his letters which ignorant and unstable
people explain falsely, as they
do with other passages of the Scriptures.
So they bring on their own destruction.
17 But you, my friends, already
know this. Be on your guard, then,
so that you will not be led away by
the errors of lawless people and fall
from your safe position.
18 But continue
to grow in the grace and
knowledge of our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ. To him be the glory,
now and forever! Amen.
-- --
Good News [1976], GOOD NEWS BIBLE WITH DEUTEROCANONICALS / APOCRYPHA Today's English Version (AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY, New York) [word count] [B15000].
|