Bible / 2 Peter
2 Peter 3
Douay-Rheims Bible, Challoner revision (1749–1752), the traditional Catholic English Bible, translated from the Latin Vulgate. If you read a modern Bible, this is the same Scripture in older English; some names are spelled differently (Cesarea for Caesarea, Apocalypse for Revelation). About this translation
1 Behold this second epistle I write to you, my dearly beloved, in which, I stir up by way of admonition your sincere mind:
2 That you may be mindful of those words which I told you before from the holy prophets, and of your apostles, of the precepts of the Lord and Saviour.
3 Knowing this first: That in the last days there shall come deceitful scoffers, walking after their own lusts,
4 Saying: Where is his promise or his coming? For since the time that the fathers slept, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
5 For this they are wilfully ignorant of: That the heavens were before, and the earth out of water and through water, consisting by the word of God:
6 Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished.
7 But the heavens and the earth which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of the ungodly men.
8 But of this one thing be not ignorant, my beloved, that one day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. Fathers
9 The Lord delayeth not his promise, as some imagine, but dealeth patiently for your sake, not willing that any should perish, but that all should return to penance, CCC
10 But the day of the Lord shall come as a thief, in which the heavens shall pass away with great violence and the elements shall be melted with heat and the earth and the works which are in it shall be burnt up. CCC
11 Seeing then that all these things are to be dissolved, what manner of people ought you to be in holy conversation and godliness? CCC
12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of the Lord, by which the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with the burning heat? CCC
13 But we look for new heavens and a new earth according to his promises, in which justice dwelleth. CCC
14 Wherefore, dearly beloved, waiting for these things, be diligent that you may be found before him unspotted and blameless in peace.
15 And account the longsuffering of our Lord, salvation: as also our most dear brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, hath written to you: CCC
16 As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are certain things hard to be understood, which the unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, to their own destruction. CCC
17 You therefore, brethren, knowing these things before, take heed, lest being led aside by the error of the unwise, you fall from your own steadfastness.
18 But grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and unto the day of eternity, Amen.
This chapter in the Catechism and the early Church
Where the Catechism of the Catholic Church cites these verses (from its footnotes on vatican.va), and where the earliest Church Fathers quote them (Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1, public domain). Short quotes only; follow the links for the full text.
Read the Fathers
“And He Himself testifieth, saying, "Behold, to-day will be as a thousand years.”
Quoted in The Letter of Barnabas, Unknown author (early 2nd century), Chapter XV. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1
“We have perceived, moreover, that the expression, The day of the Lord is as a thousand years,”
Quoted in Dialogue with Trypho, St. Justin Martyr (c. AD 160), Chapter LXXXI. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1
“And there are some, again, who relegate the death of Adam to the thousandth year; for since "a day of the Lord is as a thousand years,”
Quoted in Against Heresies, Book V, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XXIII. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1
Read the Catechism
- CCC 1042 “At the end of time, the Kingdom of God will come in its fullness. After the universal judgment, the righteous will reign…”
Read the Catechism
- CCC 671 “Though already present in his Church, Christ's reign is nevertheless yet to be fulfilled "with power and great glory" by the King's…”
- CCC 1042 “At the end of time, the Kingdom of God will come in its fullness. After the universal judgment, the righteous will reign…”
- CCC 1043 “Sacred Scripture calls this mysterious renewal, which will transform humanity and the world, "new heavens and a new earth." It will be…”
- CCC 1405 “There is no surer pledge or dearer sign of this great hope in the new heavens and new earth "in which righteousness…”
Read the Catechism
- CCC 105 “God is the author of Sacred Scripture. "The divinely revealed realities, which are contained and presented in the text of Sacred Scripture,…”
Read the Catechism
- CCC 105 “God is the author of Sacred Scripture. "The divinely revealed realities, which are contained and presented in the text of Sacred Scripture,…”
A modern English Catholic translation will be added once its publisher grants permission.