2 Peter 1

1 ¹Simon Peter, servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those given 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 our Father and Jesus our Lord.

Partakers of the Father's Nature

³His divine power gave us all we need for life and devotion to God, through knowing him who called us by his glory and excellence. ⁴Through these he gave us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may share the divine nature, having escaped the world's corruption from evil desires. ⁵So, making every effort, add goodness to your faith, and to goodness, knowledge; ⁶to knowledge, self-control; to self-control, endurance; to endurance, devotion to God, ⁷to devotion to God, brotherly affection; to brotherly affection, love. ⁸If you have these qualities, growing, they'll keep you from being useless or fruitless in knowing our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹Whoever lacks these things is blind, shortsighted, forgetting he was cleansed from his past sins. ¹⁰So, brothers and sisters, strive to confirm your calling and election; do these things and you will never stumble. ¹¹This way you'll be richly given entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

¹²So I will always remind you of these things, though you know them and stand firm in the truth you now hold. ¹³I think it right to keep stirring you with reminders while I remain in this tent, ^a a v13 Peter calls his physical body a 'tent' — a temporary dwelling he will soon leave behind (see 2 Corinthians 5:1–4). ¹⁴since I know I'll soon set my tent aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ showed me. ¹⁵I will also strive so you can always recall these things after I depart.

¹⁶For we didn't follow ingenious myths to tell you of our Lord Jesus Christ's power and coming — we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.

¹⁷He received honor and glory from our Father when a voice came to him from the Majestic Glory: "This is my Son, the one I love; I delight in him." ^b b v17 These are the Father's own words at the mountain — he delights in his Son and calls him beloved, the same voice Peter, James, and John heard at the transfiguration.

¹⁸We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain.

¹⁹We also have the prophetic word made more certain—you do well to attend to it, like a lamp shining in a dark place, until day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. ²⁰Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture comes from one's own interpretation. ²¹No prophecy ever came by human will, but men spoke from our Father, carried along by the Holy Spirit.