1. From Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ —To those who through the righteousness of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ have been given a faith as precious as ours:
2. May grace and peace be yours in full measure through your knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
3. God's divine power has given us everything we need to live a truly religious life through our knowledge of the one who called us to share in his own glory and goodness.
4. In this way he has given us the very great and precious gifts he promised, so that by means of these gifts you may escape from the destructive lust that is in the world, and may come to share the divine nature.
5. For this very reason do your best to add goodness to your faith; to your goodness add knowledge;
6. to your knowledge add self-control; to your self-control add endurance; to your endurance add godliness;
7. to your godliness add Christian affection; and to your Christian affection add love.
8. These are the qualities you need, and if you have them in abundance, they will make you active and effective in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9. But those who do not have them are so short-sighted that they cannot see and have forgotten that they have been purified from their past sins.
10. So then, my brothers and sisters, try even harder to make God's call and his choice of you a permanent experience; if you do so, you will never abandon your faith.