New English Translation
2 Peter 3:4
4and saying, “Where is his promised return? For ever since our ancestors died, all things have continued as they were from the beginning of creation.”
2 Peter 3:4 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
- New International Version (NIV)They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.”
- English Standard Version (ESV)They will say, "Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation."
- New King James Version (NKJV)and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.”
Context of 2 Peter 3:4
2I want you to recall both the predictions foretold by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles. 3Above all, understand this: In the last days blatant scoffers will come, being propelled by their own evil urges and saying, “Where is his promised return? For ever since our ancestors died, all things have continued as they were from the beginning of creation.” 5For they deliberately suppress this fact, that by the word of God heavens existed long ago and an earth was formed out of water and by means of water. 6Through these things the world existing at that time was destroyed when it was deluged with water.
Read all of 2 Peter 32 Peter 3:4 word by word
καὶ λέγοντες· ποῦ ἐστιν ἡ ἐπαγγελία τῆς παρουσίας αὐτοῦ; ἀφ᾽ ἧς γὰρ οἱ πατέρες ἐκοιμήθησαν, πάντα οὕτως διαμένει ἀπ᾽ ἀρχῆς κτίσεως.Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
- Andκαίkai · andG2532
- sayingλέγωlegō · to sayG3004
- Whereποῦpou · where?G4226
- isεἰμίeimi · to beG1510
- the promiseὁho hē to · the/this/whoG3588
- the promiseἐπαγγελίαepaggelia · promiseG1860
- ofπαρουσίαparousia · comingG3952
- hisαὐτόςautos · it/s/heG846
- forγάρgar · forG1063
- sinceἀπόapo · away fromG575
- ·ὅςhos hē ho · whichG3739
- the fathersπατήρpatēr · fatherG3962
- fell asleepκοιμάωkoimaō · to sleepG2837
- all thingsπᾶςpas · allG3956
- continueδιαμένωdiamenō · to remainG1265
- asοὕτωςhoutō · thus(-ly)G3779
- the beginningἀρχήarchē · beginningG746
- of the creationκτίσιςktisis · creationG2937
Cross-references for 2 Peter 3:4
- Genesis 19:14Then Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law who were going to marry his daughters. He said, “Quick, get out of this place because the Lord is about to destroy the city!” But his sons-in-law thought he was ridiculing them.
- Ecclesiastes 1:9What exists now is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done; there is nothing truly new on earth.
- Ecclesiastes 8:11When a sentence is not executed at once against a crime, the human heart is encouraged to do evil.
- Isaiah 5:18Those who pull evil along using cords of emptiness are as good as dead, who pull sin as with cart ropes.
- Jeremiah 5:12“These people have denied what the Lord says. They have said, ‘That is not so! No harm will come to us. We will not experience war and famine.
- Jeremiah 17:15Listen to what they are saying to me. They are saying, “Where are the things the Lord threatens us with? Come on! Let’s see them happen!”
- Ezekiel 12:22“Son of man, what is this proverb you have in the land of Israel, ‘The days pass slowly, and every vision fails’?
- Malachi 2:17You have wearied the Lord with your words. But you say, “How have we wearied him?” Because you say, “Everyone who does evil is good in the Lord’s opinion, and he delights in them,” or “Where is the God of justice?”
- Matthew 24:28Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.
- Luke 12:45But if that slave should say to himself, ‘My master is delayed in returning,’ and he begins to beat the other slaves, both men and women, and to eat, drink, and get drunk,
- Mark 13:19For in those days there will be suffering unlike anything that has happened from the beginning of the creation that God created until now, or ever will happen.
- Revelation 3:14“To the angel of the church in Laodicea write the following: “This is the solemn pronouncement of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the originator of God’s creation:
Commentaries on 2 Peter 3:4
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 4Where is the promise of his coming? - Perhaps the false teachers here referred to were such as believed in the eternity of the world: the prophets and the apostles had foretold its destruction, and they took it for granted, if this were true, that the terrestrial machine would have begun long ago to have shown some symptoms of decay; but they found that since the patriarchs died all things remained as they were from the foundation of the world; that is…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 4And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? - That is, either, Where is the “fulfillment” of that promise; or, Where are the “indications” or “signs” that he will come? They evidently meant to imply that the promise had utterly failed; that there was not the slightest evidence that it would be accomplished; that they who had believed this were entirely deluded. It is possible that some of the early Christians, even in the time of the apostles, had…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 4since our fathers fell asleep: The false teachers were probably claiming that nothing had really changed in history. They argued that, even though God promised to act, God had never intervened and never would.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 44. (Compare Psa 10:11; 73:11.) Presumptuous skepticism and lawless lust, setting nature and its so-called laws above the God of nature and revelation, and arguing from the past continuity of nature's phenomena that there can be no future interruption to them, was the sin of the antediluvians, and shall be that of the scoffers in the last days. Where--implying that it ought to have taken place before this, if ever it was to take place, but that it never…Read the comment
Topics related to 2 Peter 3:4
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on 2 Peter 3
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Illustrated New Testament
- Burkitt’s Expository Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Family Bible Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- The People’s New Testament
- Robertson’s Word Pictures
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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