1:1 Simon Keipha, a slave and emissary of Yehoshua Messiah, to those equally precious with us, having obtained belief in the righteousness of our Elohim and of our Savior, Yehoshua Messiah:
1:2 Grace to you, and shalom be multiplied by a full knowledge of Elohim, and of Yehoshua our Master,
1:3 Who has given us all things that pertain to the power of Elohim, for the life and worship of Elohim, through the full knowledge of the One calling us through glory and virtue,
1:4 by which means He has given to us the very great and precious promises, so that through these you might be partakers of the divine nature, escaping from the corruption which is in the world by lust.
1:5 But also in this very thing, having brought in all diligence, having fully supplied in your belief virtue, and with virtue knowledge,
1:6 and with the knowledge self-control, and with the self-control patience, and with the patience set-apartness,
1:7 and with the set-apartness brotherly kindness, and with brotherly kindness, love.
1:8 For these things being in you, and abounding, they will make you never to be useless or unfruitful in the full knowledge of our Master Yehoshua Messiah.
1:9 For the one in whom these things are not present is blind, being shortsighted, and forgetting that he was cleansed of his sins in time past.
1:10 Therefore, brothers, rather be diligent to make your calling and election sure; for doing these things, you will not ever fall.
1:11 For so will be richly furnished to you the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Master and Savior, Yehoshua Messiah.
1:12 And for this reason I am not wearied in reminding you continually of these things; although you know them well, and are established in this truth.
1:13 But I deem it right, so long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by a reminder,
1:14 knowing that shortly I must depart this life, as indeed our Master Yehoshua Messiah made clear to me.
1:15 And I will also be diligent to cause you always to have memory of these things after my departure.
1:16 For not following fables which had been cleverly devised, but having become eyewitnesses of the majesty of Yehoshua Messiah, we made known to you the power and coming of our Master.
1:17 For He received from Elohim the Father honor and glory when there came such a voice to Him from the excellent and magnificent glory, "This is My son, the Beloved, in whom I am well pleased1,"
1:18 even we heard this voice being borne out of Heaven, being with Him in the set apart mountain,
1:19 and we have the more established Word of prophecy, in which you do well to look to it for guidance, as you look to a menorah shining in a dark place, until day dawns and the sun will shine in your hearts;
1:20 knowing this first, that not every prophecy of Scripture is made clear in its own scroll2;
1:21 for prophecy did not come by the will of man, but set apart men of Elohim spoke when they were inspired by the set apart ruach.
2:1 But false prophets were also among the people, as also false teachers will be among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, and denying the Master who has bought them, bringing swift destruction on themselves.
2:2 And many will follow their destructive ways, by whom the way of truth will be evil spoken of.
2:3 And by covetousness, with well-turned words, they will use you for gain, for whom judgment from the very beginning has not ceased, and their destruction is always active.
2:4 For if Elohim did not spare sinning messengers, but delivered them to chains of darkness, thrust down into fiery regions, having been kept to judgment;
2:5 and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah the eighth, a herald of righteousness, bringing a flood on a world of wicked ones;
2:6 and covering the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah with ashes, He condemned them with an overthrow, setting an example to men intending to live not set apart lives.
2:7 And also delivered righteous Lot, who was tormented with the filthy conduct of the lawless;
2:8 for that righteous one living among them day after day, in seeing and in hearing, his righteous soul was tormented with their lawless deeds.
2:9 But Yehovah knows to rescue the righteous out of temptation, and to keep the unjust to be punished at the judgment day,
2:10 and especially will He punish those who follow after the filthy lusts of the flesh, and have no respect for authority. Self willed and arrogant they are and they do not tremble when they blaspheme;
2:11 where messengers being greater in strength and power do not bring against them the condemnation of blaspheming.
2:12 But these men, like the dumb beasts, which by nature are for slaughter and destruction, speak evil of the things that they do not understand, and will utterly perish in their own corruption;
2:13 being about to receive the wages of unrighteousness, as they consider it a delightful thing to revel in the daytime. They are spots and blemishes among you, and sport themselves with their own pleasures feasting along with you in idleness,
2:14 having eyes full of adultery, and never ceasing from sin; seducing unsettled souls; having a heart being filled with covetousness; they are cursed children;
2:15 who have forsaken the straight path, and have gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness,
2:16 but who was rebuked for his own transgression, the dumb donkey speaking in a man's voice held back the folly of the prophet.
2:17 These are springs without water3, clouds being driven by a storm, for whom the blackness of darkness has been kept forever.
2:18 For, while they speak astonishing words of vanity, they seduce, with obscene lusts of the flesh, them who have almost abandoned these, that walk in error,
2:19 while promising to them freedom, though themselves being slaves of corruption; for a man is overcome, by whatever it is that enslaves him.
2:20 For if, when they have escaped the pollutions of the world by the knowledge of our Master and Redeemer, Yehoshua the Messiah, they become again entangled in the very same things and are overcome by them, their latter end is worse with them than the beginning4.
2:21 For it was better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than having recognized it to turn from the set apart commandment delivered to them.
2:22 But the word of the true proverb has happened to them: "The dog returns to his own vomit; also, the sow that was washed, to wallowing in the mud." (Prov. 26:11 )
3:1 It has been a long time since I have written to you, my Beloved, but now I write to you this second epistle, in which by reminder I stir up your pure mind to remember
3:2 the words having been spoken before by the set apart prophets, and the commandment given by us, the sent ones of our Master and Savior;
3:3 first, knowing this, that during the last days scoffers will come walking according to their own lusts,
3:4 and saying, Where is the promise of His coming? For from which time the fathers fell asleep, all things remain so from the beginning of creation.
3:5 For this they willingly forget, that the heavens were of old; and the earth rose up from the waters, and by means of water, by the word of Elohim.
3:6 Through which the world which then was, being flooded by water, perished.
3:7 But the heavens and the earth now, having been stored up by the same Word, are being kept for fire to a day of judgment and destruction of wicked men.
3:8 But let not this one thing be hidden from you, beloved, that one day with Yehovah is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day5.
3:9 Yehovah is not negligent concerning His promises, as some count negligence, but is patient toward us, not wishing any to perish, but all to come to repentance.
3:10 But the day of Yehovah will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with rushing sound, and the elements shall separate as they burn, and earth and the works in it will be burned up.
3:11 Now since all these being are about to be dissolved, what sort of person ought you to be in set apart behavior and righteousness,
3:12 looking for and longing for the coming of the Day of Elohim6, through which the heavens having been set afire will be dissolved; and burning, the elements will melt?
3:13 But according to His promise, we look for "New heavens and a new earth," in which righteousness dwells. (Isa. 65:17)
3:14 Because of this, beloved, looking for these things, be diligent, spotless, and without blemish, that you may be found by Him in shalom.
3:15 And consider the long-suffering of Yehovah to be our redemption, as also our beloved brother Paul wrote to you, according to the wisdom given to him;
3:16 as also in all his epistles, speaking in them concerning these things, in which some things are hard to understand, which those that are ignorant and unstable pervert their meaning, as also they do the rest of the Scriptures7, to their own destruction.
3:17 Therefore beloved, since you know these things beforehand, guard yourself, lest being led away by the error of the lawless8 you fall from your own steadfastness.
3:18 But grow in grace and knowledge of our Master and Savior, Yehoshua Messiah and of Yehovah the Father. To Him be the glory, both now and to the days of eternity. Amen.