1 Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking.
2 I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Saviour through your apostles.
3 Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires.
4 They will say, ‘Where is this ‘‘coming’’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.’
5 But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water.
6 By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed.
7 By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.