Shim`own Peter, a slave and shalach of Yeshuwah haMashiyach,
To those equally precious with us, who received ‘emuwnah through the Tsaddiyq of our ‘Elohiym, our Savior, Yeshuwah haMashiyach:
Grace is yours and shalom in abundance through da`ath of ‘Elohiym and of Yeshuwah, our Lord.
His Divine, miraculous power has given us everything we need for life and piety through the da`ath of He who called us by Kabowd and Towb. Through these He has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the Divine nature and escape from he who is in the world, corrupted by a longing for what is forbidden.
For this very reason, all of you be diligent, adding virtue to your ‘emuwnah; and to virtue, da`ath; and to da`ath, self-control; and to self-control, hopeful endurance; and to hopeful endurance, reverence; and to reverence, fraternal affection; and to fraternal affection, checed. For if you possess these things in increasing measure, they will keep you from being useless and unfruitful in da`ath of our Lord, Yeshuwah haMashiyach, because anyone who does not have them, he is blind, being short-sighted, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from the chat’owt of his past.
Therefore, rather, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and choices steadfast. For if you do these things, you will never fall, for you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal Mamlahkah of `Owlam, our Lord and Savior, Yeshuwah haMashiyach.
So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have. I think it is right to refresh your memory, as long as I live in this tent for the nephesh, because I know that I will soon put my tent for the nephesh aside, as our Lord, Yeshuwah haMashiyach, has made clear to me. And I will be diligent to see that after my departure you will always have reason to remember these things.
We did not follow cleverly invented stories, but we told you about the power and coming of our Lord, Yeshuwah haMashiyach, and we became eyewitnesses of His majesty. For He received honor and praise from ‘Elohiym, the Father, when the Qowl came to Him from the Majestic Kabowd, "This is My Son, the Chacad, in whom I am well pleased." We ourselves heard this Qowl that came from Shamayim when we were with Him on the mountain of Qadowsh.
And we have the prophetic Word made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a murky place, until the day dawns and the Aleph/Tav, the Ma'owr haGadowl, rises in your heart. First of all, understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by itself. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke of ‘Elohiym as they were being carried along by the Ruach haQodesh.
But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce heresies of eternal damnation, even denying the Master, who redeemed them--bringing swift ruin on themselves. And rabiym will follow their licentiousness and will blaspheme the way of ha’Emeth. In their covetousness they will exploit you with carefully crafted stories. Condemnation of long ago hangs over them, and their destruction will not be delayed.
For if ‘Elohiym did not spare mal’akiym for chatta’ah, but in chains of gloom, incarcerated them in eternal torment, to be held for judgment; and He did not spare the ancient world, but protected Noach, a preacher of tsdaqah, and seven others when He brought the flood on a world of rasha`iym; and He condemned the cities of Cdom and `Amorah with a consuming catastrophe, making them an example of what happens to men intending to live as rasha`iym; and He delivered the tsaddiyq, Lowt, who was harassed under the licentious behavior of the lawless men (for that tsaddiyq, living among them day after day, was tormented in his tsedeq nephesh by their lawless deeds he saw and heard) -- if this is so, then YHWH knows how to deliver qadoshiym from temptation and withhold the rasha`iym for a day of judgment, continuing their punishment. This is especially true of those who follow the flesh in longing for what is tame’ and despise authority.
Bold and self-pleasing, they do not fear the teachings, blaspheming against them; yet even mal’akiym, stronger and more powerful, do not bring blasphemous accusations against them in the Presence of YHWH. But these are like brute beasts, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming in matters they do not understand, and in their corruption they become depraved. Being rasha`iym, they will receive the wages of the Rasha`.
Their idea of pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight. They revel in depravity and disgracefulness; in their deceits they feast with you. With eyes full of adultery, they never cease from chatta’ah; they seduce the unstable intellect; they are experts in greed--accursed children! Having left the straight way, they err and follow the way of Bil`am, son of B`owr, who loved the wages of the Rasha`. But he was rebuked for his `avon. A mute donkey, who spoke with a man's voice, restrained the madness of the nabiy’.
These men are springs without mayim, mists driven by a storm. The blackness of Choshek is reserved for them for eternity. For they entice, by the longing of the intellect for what is forbidden through licentiousness, those who are just escaping from those who live in error, promising them ``freedom,'' while they themselves are slaves of depravity--for anyone who has been overcome becomes enslaved to whatever has overcome him. If they have escaped the foulness of the world by da`ath of our Lord and Savior, Yeshuwah haMashiyach, and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning.
It would have been better for them not to have da`ath of the way of the Tsaddiyq, than to have da`ath and then to turn away from the mitzvah of Qadowsh that was given to them. Of them the proverbs are true: "As a male prostitute, who returns to his own vomit … ," and, "A pig that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud."
Chacdiym, this is now my second letter to you, in which I try to wake you up by the reminder of sincere meditation to recall the words spoken in the past by the nabiy’im of Qadowsh and the mitsvah of the Lord and Savior through the shlachiym.
First, understand that in the last days false teachers will come, following their own longing for what is forbidden. They will say, "Where is this `coming' He promised? Because, ever since our forefathers fell asleep, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation." But this is hidden from them because of their self-determination – that Shamayim is of long ago and ha’arets was formed out of mayim and held together through mayim by the Word of ha’Elohiym, by which the world of that time was flooded by water and destroyed. By the same Word the present Shamayim and ha’arets are reserved for fire, being kept for a day of mishpat and destruction of rasha`iym.
But do not be ignorant of this one thing, chacdiym: With YHWH one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day. YHWH is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not willing that anyone perish, but that everyone make room for repentance.
But Yowm-YHWH will come in the manner of a thief, in which the skies will disappear with a roar; the elements, burning, will be dissolved, and the world and all its acts will be consumed wholly.
These things being certain, what kind of people ought you to be? As qadoshiym, in behavior pious, looking for and rushing toward the Day of ‘Elohiym. That day will bring about the dissolution of the skies by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. Nevertheless, we look forward to the Shamayim haChadashiym and ha'arets haChadashah, in keeping with His promise, in which Tsaddiyq lives.
Therefore, chacdiym, since you are looking for these things, be diligent -- not tame’, but tamiym, to be found in shalom with Him. Consider that our Lord's patience means salvation, just as the one I have checed for, our brother Paul, also wrote you according to the chakmah given him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters, in which are some things that are hard to understand, which the ignorant doubters distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own loss.
You then, chacdiym, already knowing this, be on your guard so that you will not be carried away by the deceit of the Rasha` and fall from your own steadfastness. But be mature in grace and da`ath of our Lord and Savior, Yeshuwah haMashiyach.
He is Kabowd, both now and to the Day of `Owlam! Amen.
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