(Genesis 7:1–24; Jude 1:17–23)
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This [is] now, beloved, a second letter I write to you, in both which I stir up your pure mind in reminding [you]
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to be mindful of the sayings said before by the holy prophets, and of the command of us the apostles of the LORD and Savior,
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knowing this first, that there will come scoffers in the last days, going on according to their own desires,
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and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things so remain from the beginning of the creation”;
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for this they willingly conceal, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth having been established by the word of God out of water and through water,
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through which the world then, having been flooded by water, was destroyed;
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and by the same word, the present heavens and earth, having been stored up for fire, are being preserved until [the] day of judgment and destruction of impious men.
The Day of the Lord
(Zephaniah 1:7–18; Malachi 4:1–6; 1 Thessalonians 5:1–11)
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And do not let this one thing be concealed from you, beloved, that one day with the LORD [is] as one thousand years and one thousand years as one day;
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the LORD is not slow in regard to the promise, as some count slowness, but is long-suffering to us, not intending any to be lost, but all to come to conversion,
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and it will come—the Day of the LORD—as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a rushing noise, and the elements will be dissolved with burning heat, and [the] earth and the works in it will not be found.
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All these, then, being dissolved, what kind of persons ought you to be in holy behaviors and pious acts,
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waiting for and hurrying the coming of the Day of God, by which the heavens, being on fire, will be dissolved, and the elements will melt with burning heat?
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And we wait for new heavens and a new earth according to His promise, in which righteousness dwells;
Final Exhortations
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for this reason, beloved, waiting for these things, be diligent, spotless and unblameable, to be found by Him in peace,
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and count the long-suffering of our Lord [as] salvation, according as also our beloved brother Paul—according to the wisdom given to him—wrote to you,
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as also in all the letters, speaking in them concerning these things, among which are some things [that are] hard to be understood, which the untaught and unstable twist, as also the other Writings, to their own destruction.
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You, then, beloved, knowing before, take heed, lest, together with the error of the impious being led away, you may fall from your own steadfastness,
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and increase in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ; to Him [is] the glory both now, and to the day of the age! Amen.
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