The Coming Judgment
(Genesis 7:1–24; Jude 1:17–23)

1Now this, dearly beloved, the second epistle I write to you; in which I awaken your pure mind by putting in remembrance: 2To remember the words spoken before by the holy prophets, and the command of us the sent of the Lord and Saviour:

3Knowing this first, that in the last of the days shall mockers come for deceiving, going according to their own eager desires, 4And saying, Where is the solemn promise of his presence? for from the time the fathers were set to sleep, so continue all things from the beginning of creation. 5For being willing this is unknown to them, that the heavens were a long while ago, and the earth having stood out of water and by water, by the word of God: 6By which then the world, overflowed with water, perished: 7And now the heavens and the earth, by the same word are stored up, being kept for fire to the day of judgment and of the perdition of irreligious men.

The Day of the Lord
(Zephaniah 1:7–18; Malachi 4:1–6; 1 Thessalonians 5:1–11)

8And let not this one thing be unknown to you, dearly beloved, that one day with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9The Lord puts not off the solemn promise, as some deem slowness; but is longsuffering to us, not willing any to perish, but all should have room for repentance.

10And the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in which the heavens shall pass away with a loud noise, and the elements, suffering from excessive heat, shall be dissolved, and the earth and the works in it shall be burned down.

11Therefore all these being dissolved, of what race ought ye to be in holy turning round and devotion, 12Expecting and seeking earnestly the presence of the day of God, during which the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements going to be burned are melted away? 13But we expect new heavens and a new earth, according to promise, in which dwells justice.

Final Exhortations

14Wherefore, dearly beloved, expecting these, be earnest, spotless and blameless, to be found by him in peace. 15And the longsuffering of our Lord deem ye salvation; as also our dearly beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you; 16As also in all the epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things difficult to understand, which the unlearned and unstable pervert, as also the rest of the writings, to their own perdition. 17You therefore, dearly beloved, knowing beforehand, watch, lest, led away by the error of the lawless, ye fall from your own stability. 18And grow ye in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him the glory now and to the day of eternity. Amen.