3 First of all, you must understand that scoffers will come in the last *3:3 days ¦ days with scoffing CTdays, walking according to their own lusts. 4 They will say, "Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, everything continues as it has since the beginning of creation." 5 They deliberately overlook the fact that by the word of God the heavens came into being long ago and the earth emerged through the water and was separated from the water. 6 And by *3:6 the water and ¦ --- ECM NA28 {Note: In the man Greek text the words translated as And by the water and the word literally read through which. In Greek the word which is plural, likely referring to the water and the word (although it could refer to the heavens and the earth, the heavens, or the waters). But in the ECM and NA28 variant the word which is singular, likely referring only to the word. The likely referents of the pronouns have been stated explicitly in the translation and footnote for the sake of clarity and flow.}the water and the word, the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. 7 Furthermore, by *3:7 his ¦ the same CT SCRhis word the heavens and the earth that now exist have been reserved for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and the destruction of the ungodly.