Moses Makes New Tablets

1 The Lord said to Moses, ^w“Cut for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, ^xand I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, ^ywhich you broke. 2 Be ready by the morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself there to me ^zon the top of the mountain. 3 No ^aone shall come up with you, and let no one be seen throughout all the mountain. Let no flocks or herds graze opposite that mountain.” 4 So Moses cut two tablets of stone like the first. And he rose early in the morning and went up on Mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, and took in his hand two tablets of stone. 5 The Lord ^bdescended in the cloud and stood with him there, and ^cproclaimed the name of the Lord. 6 The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, ^d“The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and ^egracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast ^flove and faithfulness, 7 ^gkeeping steadfast love for thousands,^{1 h}forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but ⁱwho will by no means clear the guilty, ^jvisiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.” 8 And Moses quickly ^kbowed his head toward the earth and worshiped. 9 And he said, “If now I have found favor in your sight, O Lord, please ^llet the Lord go in the midst of us, for ^mit is a stiff-necked people, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for ⁿyour inheritance.”

The Covenant Renewed

10 And he said, “Behold, ^oI am making a covenant. Before all your people ^pI will do marvels, such as have not been created in all the earth or in any nation. And all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the Lord, for it is an ^qawesome thing that I will do with you.

11 “Observe what I command you this day. Behold, ^rI will drive out before you the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 12 ^sTake care, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land to which you go, lest it become a ^tsnare in your midst. 13 You shall ^utear down their altars and ^vbreak their pillars and cut down their ^wAsherim 14 (for ^xyou shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God), 15 ^slest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and when they ^ywhore after their gods and sacrifice to their gods and ^zyou are invited, you eat of his sacrifice, 16 and you take of ^atheir daughters for your sons, and their daughters ^ywhore after their gods and make your sons whore after their gods.

17 ^b“You shall not make for yourself any gods of cast metal.

18 ^c“You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in ^dthe month Abib, for in the month Abib you came out from Egypt. 19 ^eAll that open the womb are mine, all your male² livestock, the firstborn of cow and sheep. 20 The ^ffirstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb, or if you will not redeem it you shall break its neck. All the firstborn of your sons you shall redeem. And ^gnone shall appear before me empty-handed.

21 ^h“Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest. In plowing time and in harvest you shall rest. 22 ⁱYou shall observe the Feast of Weeks, the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the year’s end. 23 ^jThree times in the year shall all your males appear before the Lord God, the God of Israel. 24 For I will ^kcast out nations before you and ^lenlarge your borders; ^mno one shall covet your land, when you go up to appear before the Lord your God three times in the year.

25 ⁿ“You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with anything leavened, ^oor let the sacrifice of the Feast of the Passover remain until the morning. 26 ^pThe best of the firstfruits of your ground you shall bring to the house of the Lord your God. ^qYou shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.”

27 And the Lord said to Moses, “Write these words, for in accordance with these words ^rI have made a covenant with you and with Israel.” 28 ^sSo he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights. He neither ate bread nor drank water. And he ^twrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.³

The Shining Face of Moses

29 When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, with ^uthe two tablets of the testimony in his hand as he came down from the mountain, Moses did not know that the skin of his face ^vshone because he had been talking with God.⁴ 30 Aaron and all the people of Israel saw Moses, and behold, the skin of his face ^wshone, and they were afraid to come near him. 31 But Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him, and Moses talked with them. 32 Afterward all the people of Israel came near, and he ^xcommanded them all that the Lord had spoken with him on Mount Sinai. 33 And when Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a ^yveil over his face.

34 Whenever Moses ^zwent in before the Lord to speak with him, he would remove the veil, until he came out. And when he came out and told the people of Israel what he was commanded, 35 the people of Israel would see the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses’ face was ^ashining. And Moses would put the veil over his face again, until he went in to speak with him.

Greeting

1 Simeon¹ Peter, a servant² and apostle of Jesus Christ,

To those who have obtained ^aa faith of equal standing with ours ^bby the righteousness of our ^cGod and Savior Jesus Christ:

2 ^dMay grace and peace be multiplied to you ^ein the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

Confirm Your Calling and Election

3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him ^fwho called us to³ his own glory and excellence,⁴ 4 by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become ^gpartakers of the divine nature, ^hhaving escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. 5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith ⁱwith virtue,⁵ and virtue ^jwith knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control ^kwith steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, 7 and godliness ^lwith brotherly affection, and brotherly affection ^mwith love. 8 For if these qualities⁶ are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or ⁿunfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he ^ois blind, having forgotten that he was ^pcleansed from his former sins. 10 Therefore, brothers,⁷ be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and ^qelection, for if you practice these qualities ^ryou will never fall. 11 For in this way there will be richly provided for you ^san entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

12 Therefore I intend ^talways to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in ^uthe truth that you have. 13 I think it right, as long as I am in this ^vbody,^{8 w}to stir you up by way of reminder, 14 ^xsince I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, ^yas our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. 15 And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things.

Christ’s Glory and the Prophetic Word

16 For we did not follow ^zcleverly devised ^amyths when we made known to you ^bthe power and ^ccoming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but ^dwe were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17 For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, ^e“This is my beloved Son,⁹ with whom I am well pleased,” 18 we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on ^fthe holy mountain. 19 And ^gwe have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention ^has to a lamp shining in a dark place, until ⁱthe day ^jdawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, 20 knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. 21 For ^kno prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God ^las they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

False Prophets and Teachers

1 But ^mfalse prophets also arose among the people, ⁿjust as there will be false teachers among you, who will ^osecretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master ^pwho bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. 2 And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth ^qwill be blasphemed. 3 And ^rin their greed they will exploit you ^swith false words. ^tTheir condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.

4 For if God did not spare ^uangels when they sinned, but ^vcast them into hell¹⁰ and committed them to chains¹¹ of gloomy darkness ^wto be kept until the judgment; 5 if he did not spare the ancient world, but ^xpreserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought ^ya flood upon the world of the ungodly; 6 if by ^zturning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, ^amaking them an example of ^bwhat is going to happen to the ungodly;¹² 7 and ^cif he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked 8 (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, ^dhe was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard); 9 then ^ethe Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials,¹³ and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, 10 and especially ^fthose who indulge¹⁴ in the lust of defiling passion and ^gdespise authority.

Bold and willful, they do not tremble ^gas they blaspheme the glorious ones, 11 ^hwhereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a blasphemous judgment against them before the Lord. 12 ⁱBut these, like irrational animals, ^jcreatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their destruction, 13 suffering wrong as ^kthe wage for their wrongdoing. They count it pleasure ^lto revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions,¹⁵ while ^mthey feast with you. 14 They have eyes full of adultery,^{16 n}insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts ^otrained in greed. ^pAccursed children! 15 Forsaking the right way, ^qthey have gone astray. They have followed ^rthe way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved ^sgain from wrongdoing, 16 but was rebuked for his own transgression; ^ta speechless donkey spoke with human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.

17 ^uThese are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm. ^vFor them the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved. 18 For, ^wspeaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely ^xescaping from those who live in error. 19 They promise them ^yfreedom, ^zbut they themselves are slaves¹⁷ of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved. 20 For if, ^aafter they have escaped the defilements of the world ^bthrough the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, ^cthe last state has become worse for them than the first. 21 For ^dit would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from ^ethe holy commandment delivered to them. 22 What the true proverb says has happened to them: “The ^fdog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.”

The Day of the Lord Will Come

1 This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them ^gI am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, 2 ^hthat you should remember the predictions of ⁱthe holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, 3 knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come ^jin the last days with scoffing, ^kfollowing their own sinful desires. 4 ^lThey will say, “Where is the promise of ^mhis coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” 5 For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth ⁿwas formed out of water and through water ^oby the word of God, 6 and that by means of these the world that then existed ^pwas deluged with water and ^qperished. 7 But by the same word ^rthe heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and ^sdestruction of the ungodly.

8 But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and ^ta thousand years as one day. 9 ^uThe Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise ^vas some count slowness, but ^wis patient toward you,^{18 x}not wishing that any should perish, but ^ythat all should reach repentance. 10 But ^zthe day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then ^athe heavens will pass away with a roar, and ^bthe heavenly bodies¹⁹ will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.²⁰

11 Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, ^cwhat sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, 12 ^dwaiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and ^ethe heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! 13 But according to his promise we are waiting for ^fnew heavens and a new earth ^gin which righteousness dwells.

Final Words

14 ^hTherefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him ⁱwithout spot or ^jblemish, and ^kat peace. 15 And count ^lthe patience of our Lord as salvation, just as ^mour beloved brother Paul also wrote to you ⁿaccording to the wisdom given him, 16 as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. ^oThere are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, ^pas they do the other Scriptures. 17 You therefore, beloved, ^qknowing this beforehand, ^rtake care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. 18 But ^sgrow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. ^tTo him be the glory both now and to the day of ^ueternity. Amen.