3 knowing this first of all, ^xthat scoffers will come ^yin the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. 4 They will say, ^z“Where is the promise of his ^acoming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.”

9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is ^hpatient toward you,^{1 i}not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come ^jlike a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies² will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.³