New International Reader's Version NIRV
Wycliffe WYC
1 Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders. I want to stir you up to think in a way that is pure.
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Lo! ye most dear-worthy brethren, I write to you this second epistle [Lo! I write to you, most dear, this second epistle], in which I stir your clear soul by admonishing together,
2 I want you to remember the words the holy prophets spoke in the past. Remember the command our Lord and Savior gave through your apostles.
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that ye be mindful of those words [that ye be mindful of the words], that I before-said of the holy prophets, and of the commandments of the holy apostles of the Lord and Saviour.
3 First of all, here is what you must understand. In the last days people will make fun of the truth. They will laugh at it. They will follow their own evil longings.
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First know ye this thing, that in the last days deceivers shall come in deceit [First knowing this thing, that in the last days scorners shall come in deceit], going after their own covetings,
4 They will say, "Where is this 'return' he promised? Everything goes on in the same way it has since our people of long ago died. In fact, it has continued that way since God first created everything."
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saying, Where is the promise, or the coming of him? for since the fathers died, all things last from the beginning of creature [for since fathers slept, either died, so all things last from the beginning of creature].
5 Long ago, God's word brought the heavens into being. His word separated the earth from the waters. And the waters surrounded it. But those people forget things like that on purpose.
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But it is hid from them willing this thing, that heavens were before, and the earth of water was standing by water, by God's word [that heavens were first, and the earth of water and by water being, or standing, together by God's word];
6 The waters also flooded the world of that time. It was destroyed.
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by which [things] that same world cleansed, then by water perished.
7 By God's word the heavens and earth of today are being reserved for fire. They are being kept for the day when God will judge. Then ungodly people will be destroyed.
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But the heavens that now be, and the earth, be kept by the same word, and be reserved to fire into the day of doom and perdition of wicked men. [Forsooth the heavens that now be, and the earth, by the same word put again, be kept to fire into the day of doom and perdition of unpious men.]
8 Dear friends, here is one thing you must not forget. With the Lord a day is like a thousand years. And a thousand years are like a day.
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But, ye most dear, this one thing be not hid to you [be not unknown], that one day with God is as a thousand years, and a thousand years be as one day [and a thousand years as one day].
9 The Lord is not slow to keep his promise. He is not slow in the way some people understand it. He is patient with you. He doesn't want anyone to be destroyed. Instead, he wants all people to turn away from their sins.
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The Lord tarrieth not his promise, as some [men] guess, but he doeth patiently for you, and will not that any man perish [not willing any to perish], but that all turn again to penance.
10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar. Fire will destroy everything in them. God will judge the earth and everything in it.
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For the day of the Lord shall come as a thief, in which heavens with great rush shall pass [in which heavens with great rush, or fierceness, shall pass], and elements shall be dissolved by heat, and the earth, and all the works that be in it, shall be burnt.
11 So everything will be destroyed. And what kind of people should you be? You should lead holy and godly lives.
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Therefore when all these things shall be dissolved, what manner men behooveth it you to be in holy livings and piety [in holy livings and pieties],
12 Live like that as you look forward to the day of God. It will make the day come more quickly. On that day fire will destroy the heavens. Its heat will melt everything in them.
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abiding and hieing into the coming of the day of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom heavens burning shall be dissolved, and elements shall fail by burning of fire [+by which heavens burning shall be dissolved, and elements shall fail by burning, or heat, of fire].
13 But we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth. Godliness will make its home there. All of this is in keeping with God's promise.
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Also we abide by his promises [Soothly we abide after his promise] new heavens and new earth, in which rightwiseness dwelleth.
14 Dear friends, I know you are looking forward to that. So try your best to be found pure and without blame. Be at peace with God.
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For which thing, ye most dear, abiding these things, be ye busy to be found to him in peace unspotted and undefouled [in peace unspotted and unfouled].
15 Remember that while our Lord is waiting patiently to return, people are being saved. Our dear brother Paul also wrote to you about that. God made him wise to write as he did.
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And deem ye long abiding of our Lord Jesus Christ your health, as also our most dear brother Paul wrote to you, by wisdom given to him. [And deem ye the long abiding of our Lord your health, as and our most dear brother Paul wrote to you, after wisdom given to him.]
16 He writes the same way in all his letters. He speaks about what I have just told you. His letters include some things that are hard to understand. People who don't know better and aren't firm in the faith twist what he says. They twist the other Scriptures too. So they will be destroyed.
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As and in all his epistles he speaketh in them of these things; in which be some hard things to understand, which unwise and unstable men deprave [As and in all epistles he speaking in them of these things; in which be some hard things in understanding, the which unwise, or untaught, and unstable men deprave], as also they do other scriptures, to their own perdition.
17 Dear friends, you already know that. So be on your guard. Then you won't be led down the wrong path by the mistakes of people who don't obey the law. You won't fall from your safe position.
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Therefore ye, brethren, before-witting keep yourselves, lest ye be deceived by error of unwise men, and fall away from your own firmness. [Therefore ye, brethren, before-witting keep yourselves, lest ye over-led, or deceived, by error of unwise men, fall away from your own firmness.]
18 Grow in the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Get to know him better. Give him glory both now and forever. Amen.
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But wax ye in the grace and the knowing of our Lord Jesus Christ and our Saviour; to him be glory now and into the day of everlastingness. Amen.
Holy Bible, New International Reader's Version® Copyright © 1995, 1996, 1998 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide.
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.