1 I am Simon Peter. I am a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ. I send greetings to you who have believed as we have. Believing is worth just as much to you as it is to us. This is because our God and Saviour, Jesus Christ, is right and good.
2 May the loving kindness of God bless you and give you more and more peace because you know God and Jesus our Lord.
3 Christ is God and by his own power he has given us everything that we need to live and to please God. He has given this to us because we know him, and he has called us because he is great and good.
4 Because of these things, he has promised us things that are worth very much and are very great. He has promised these things to us so that by them you may become like God too. By them you will be kept free from the selfish desires of the people in the world. These desires lead to death.
5 So now you believe, try to live a good life. When you live a good life, try to learn more about God.
6 When you have learned more, be strong to do what is right. Then go on doing what is right, even if it is hard. As you go about doing right, keep close to God.
7 As you keep close to God, love your Christian brothers. When you love your Christian brothers, love everyone!
8 If you do these things and you do them more and more, you will be good Christians and you will know more and more about our Lord Jesus Christ.
9 But the man who does not do these things is like a blind man. He can see only a little way. He has forgotten that he was made clean from the wrong things he used to do.
10 So my brothers, try to show that God has called you and chosen you. If you do these things, you will never fall.
11 That will make it easy for you to go into the kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. His kingdom will be for ever.
12 I do want always to bring these things to your minds. I will do this even though you know them, and even though you are strong in the true way that you already have.
13 I think it is right, as long as I live, to keep these things in your minds.
14 I know that I will not live long now. Our Lord Jesus Christ has told me about that.
15 But I will try to see that you have something to bring these things to your minds, even after I am gone.
16 We have told you about the power of our Lord Jesus Christ and that he is coming again. We did not tell you stories someone told us. We ourselves saw how great he is.
17 God the Father praised him and showed that he is great. A voice came from the bright cloud and said to him, This is my Son. I love him and he pleases me very much.
18 We heard this voice which came from heaven. It happened when we were on the holy hill with Jesus.
19 And so we are more sure about what the prophets of God said long ago. You will do well to listen to them. It is like a lamp shining in a dark place. Then the daylight will come and the morning star will shine in your hearts.
20 First you must understand this. The words from the prophets in the holy writings did not come from their own minds.
21 The prophets did not say what they wanted to say. But the Holy Spirit made them speak. And they spoke Gods message.