³ knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, ^(A)walking according to their own lusts, ⁴ and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of ^(B)creation.” ⁵ For this they willfully forget: that ^(C)by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth ^(D)standing out of water and in the water, ^6 (E)by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. ⁷ But ^(F)the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for ^(G)fire until the day of judgment and ^[a]perdition of ungodly men.

⁸ But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and ^(H)a thousand years as one day. ^9 (I)The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but ^(J)is longsuffering toward ^[b]us, ^(K)not willing that any should perish but ^(L)that all should come to repentance.