Passage

2 Peter 3.6-7

Book: 2 Peter · NASB95

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

4. and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for, from the day that the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. 5. For this they wilfully forget, that there were heavens from of old, and an earth compacted out of water and amidst water, by the word of God;

6. by which means the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: 7. but the heavens that now are, and the earth, by the same word have been stored up for fire, being reserved against the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.

But forget not this one thing, beloved, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some count slackness; but is longsuffering to you-ward, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:4-9, ASV)

WEB

4. and saying, “Where is the promise of his coming? For, from the day that the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.” 5. For this they willfully forget, that there were heavens from of old, and an earth formed out of water and amid water, by the word of God;

6. by which means the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished. 7. But the heavens that now are, and the earth, by the same word have been stored up for fire, being reserved against the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.

But don’t forget this one thing, beloved, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9. The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some count slowness; but is patient with us, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:4-9, WEB)

KJV

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 the creation. 5. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: ^{standing: Gr. consisting}

6. Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: 7. But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:4-9, KJV)

YLT

4. and saying, 'Where is the promise of his presence? for since the fathers did fall asleep, all things so remain from the beginning of the creation;' 5. for this is unobserved by them willingly, that the heavens were of old, and the earth out of water and through water standing together by the word of God,

6. through which the then world, by water having been deluged, was destroyed; 7. and the present heavens and the earth, by the same word are treasured, for fire being kept to a day of judgment and destruction of the impious men.

And this one thing let not be unobserved by you, beloved, that one day with the Lord [is] as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day; 9. the Lord is not slow in regard to the promise, as certain count slowness, but is long-suffering to us, not counselling any to be lost but all to pass on to reformation, (2 Peter 3:4-9, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: Simon Peter, as the letter names its author (2 Peter 1:1); authorship is disputed by many modern scholars
Audience: believers who had received his first letter (2 Peter 3:1)
Location: not stated; tradition places Peter in Rome at the end of his life
Time period: near the end of Peter's life (2 Peter 1:14), traditionally the mid-60s AD

Theological reading

The world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished. The "world" (kosmos) that perished is the ordered world of that age, its people and life, not the planet's matter, which remained.

Verse 7 sets the flood beside the coming judgment by fire. The same word that formed and once flooded the earth now keeps it "reserved against the day of judgment." The delay is not weakness: verse 9 explains it as God's patience, "not wishing that any should perish."

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word.

None of the words in this verse has its own lexicon entry yet.

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Concepts:

Conditional Immortality, via 2 Peter 3.7
Eschatology, via 2 Peter 3.3-9
Genesis Flood, via 2 Peter 3.5-6
Laws of the Universe as Witness to Design, via 2 Peter 3.5-6
Water and Life, via 2 Peter 3.5-6
Young Earth Creationism, via 2 Peter 3.5-7

Notes

Your annotations.

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.