To fellow believers

1Simon Peter, slave ⁰and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained ¹with us the same kind of faith in the righteousness ²of our God and Savior, ³Jesus Christ:

2may grace and peace be multiplied to you ⁴through a real knowledge of God ⁵and of our Lord Jesus, ⁶

3in that His divine power has granted to us all things pertaining to life and godliness, through the real knowledge of the One ⁷who called us by glory and excellence, ⁸

4through which ⁹He has granted to us such precious and extraordinary promises, so that through these ¹⁰you may become partakers of a divine nature, ¹¹having escaped the depravity that is in the world because of lust. ¹²

Our ‘entrance’ depends on us

5So for this very reason, making every effort, ¹³to your faith add excellence, ¹⁴and to the excellence knowledge,

6and to the knowledge self-control, and to the self-control perseverance, and to the perseverance godliness,

7and to the godliness brotherly affection, and to the brotherly affection love. ¹⁵

8Because with these things existing and increasing in you, it makes you to be neither useless nor unfruitful in the real knowledge ¹⁶of our Lord Jesus Christ.

9For he who lacks these things is blind, being so myopic, having forgotten the cleansing from his past sins. ¹⁷

10Therefore, brothers, you should be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, ¹⁸for if you do these things you will never stumble. ¹⁹

11Because in this way you will be granted the abundant entrance ²⁰into the unending kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. ²¹

Peter's death is imminent

12So then, I will not neglect to keep reminding you about these things, though you know and are established in the present truth.

13Yes, I think it right to stir you up by a reminder, as long as I am in this ‘tent’,

14knowing that the shedding of my ‘tent’ is imminent, just as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. ²²

15Moreover I will take pains to provide a reminder of these things for you to have, ²³as needed, after my exit.

The prophetic Word is trustworthy

16Now 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 Voice ²⁴was directed to Him by the Magnificent Glory, “This is my Son, the beloved, in whom I am always well pleased”—

18yes, we heard this Voice being uttered from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain. ²⁵

19And so we have the most reliable prophetic Word, ²⁶to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, ²⁷until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; ²⁸

20knowing this first, that no Prophecy of Scripture comes to be from private release; ²⁹

21for no Prophecy ever came by the will of man, rather holy men of God spoke as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. ³⁰