1 Simon Peter, slaveand apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtainedwith us the same kind of faith in the righteousnessof our God and Savior,Jesus Christ:
2 may grace and peace be multiplied to youthrough a real knowledge of Godand of our Lord Jesus,
3 in that His divine power has granted to us all things pertaining to life and godliness, through the real knowledge of the Onewho called us by glory and excellence,
4 through whichHe has granted to us such precious and extraordinary promises, so that through theseyou may become partakers of a divine nature,having escaped the depravity that is in the world because of lust.
5 So for this very reason, making every effort,to your faith add excellence,and to the excellence knowledge,
6 and to the knowledge self-control, and to the self-control perseverance, and to the perseverance godliness,
7 and to the godliness brotherly affection, and to the brotherly affection love.
8 Because with these things existing and increasing in you, it makes you to be neither useless nor unfruitful in the real knowledgeof our Lord Jesus Christ.
9 For he who lacks these things is blind, being so myopic, having forgotten the cleansing from his past sins.
10 Therefore, brothers, you should be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure,for if you do these things you will never stumble.
11 Because in this way you will be granted the abundant entranceinto the unending kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
12 So then, I will not neglect to keep reminding you about these things, though you know and are established in the present truth.
13 Yes, I think it right to stir you up by a reminder, as long as I am in this ‘tent’,
14 knowing that the shedding of my ‘tent’ is imminent, just as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me.
15 Moreover I will take pains to provide a reminder of these things for you to have,as needed, after my exit.
16 Now then, we did not follow craftily devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ; rather we were attentive eyewitnesses of His majesty
17 —because He received from God the Father honor and glory when that Voicewas directed to Him by the Magnificent Glory, “This is my Son, the beloved, in whom I am always well pleased”—
18 yes, we heard this Voice being uttered from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain.
19 And so we have the most reliable prophetic Word,to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place,until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts;
20 knowing this first, that no Prophecy of Scripture comes to be from private release;
21 for no Prophecy ever came by the will of man, rather holy men of God spoke as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.