^{3 Ref} knowing this first, that in the last days mockers shall come with mockery, walking after their own lusts,

^{4 Ref} 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 Ref} For this they willfully forget, that there were heavens from of old, and an earth compacted out of water and amidst water, by the word of God;

^{6 Ref} by which means the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:

^{7 Ref} 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.

^{8 Ref} 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.