1Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, writes to those who have received a faith as precious as ours through the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ:
2May grace and peace be multiplied to you through knowing God and knowing Jesus our Lord.
3His divine power has given us everything we need for life and for godliness, through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.
4Through these, he has given us his precious and incredibly great promises, so that through them you may share in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world because of evil desires.
5For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge;
6and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, patience; and to patience, godliness;
7then godliness will lead to brotherly affection, and brotherly affection to love.
8If you have these qualities in abundance, they will keep you from being unproductive and useless in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9But whoever lacks these things is blind, only seeing what is close by, having forgotten that they were cleansed from their past sins.
10So, brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. If you do these things, you will never fall.
11In this way, you will be given a rich welcome into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
12Therefore, I will always remind you of these things, even though you already know them and are firm in the truth you have.
13I believe it is right to stir you up by reminding you, as long as I am alive in this body.
14I know that I will soon leave my body, just as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me.
15Yes, I will make every effort to ensure that you will always be able to remember these things after I am gone.
16When we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, we were not following cleverly made-up stories. Instead, we saw his majesty with our own eyes.
17He received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the majestic glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”
18We heard this voice come from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain.
19We have a more certain message from the prophets, and you do well to pay attention to it, like a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.
20First and foremost, understand that no prophecy in Scripture comes from a person's own interpretation.
21Because no prophecy ever came from human will; instead, holy people of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.