₈But do not forget one thing, my dear friends! There is no difference in the Lord's sight between one day and a thousand years; to him the two are the same. ₉The Lord is not slow to do what he has promised, as some think. Instead, he is patient with you, because he does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants all to turn away from their sins.

₁₀But the Day of the Lord will come like a thief. On that Day the heavens will disappear with a shrill noise, the heavenly bodies will burn up and be destroyed, and the earth with everything in it will vanish. ₁₁Since all these things will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people should you be? Your lives should be holy and dedicated to God, ₁₂as you wait for the Day of God and do your best to make it come soon — the Day when the heavens will burn up and be destroyed, and the heavenly bodies will be melted by the heat. ₁₃But we wait for what God has promised: new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness will be at home.

₁₄And so, my friends, as you wait for that Day, do your best to be pure and faultless in God's sight and to be at peace with him. ₁₅Look on our Lord's patience as the opportunity he is giving you to be saved, just as our dear brother Paul wrote to you, using the wisdom that God gave him.