Devine Scripture

2 Peter 3:6

What does 2 Peter 3:6 mean?

A plain-English look at 2 Peter 3:6 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.

What 2 Peter 3:6 means

Peter adds the flood as a second, sobering example: by God’s arrangement the former world was deluged with water and perished. Here history becomes warning. God has intervened not only to create but also to judge, overturning human presumption. The flood shows that apparent stability can be shattered in a moment at God’s command. It also demonstrates that judgment is comprehensive, reaching an entire world when wickedness ripens. The scoffers’ doctrine cannot survive acknowledgment of this event. For believers, the flood underscores God’s faithfulness to His word—He promised judgment and executed it—and thus prepares them to trust His promise of future reckoning and eventual restoration.

Parallel translations

WEB

World English Bible · 2000

by which means the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:

KJV

King James Version · 1611

Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:

ASV

American Standard Version · 1901

by which means the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:

BBE

Bible in Basic English · 1949

And that the world which then was came to an end through the overflowing of the waters.

YLT

Young's Literal Translation · 1862

through which the then world, by water having been deluged, was destroyed;

DRA

Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752

Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished.

DBY

Darby Bible · 1890

through which [waters] the then world, deluged with water, perished.

Context

Continuing his rebuttal, Peter recalls the flood (v6) to show that God’s word has already once brought catastrophic judgment. This directly counters the claim that “all things continue” as they were (v4). With creation and flood established, verse 7 moves from past to future: the current heavens and earth are being kept for a final judgment by fire. The sequence—creation, flood, coming fire—forms Peter’s timeline to answer the mockers.

v.5For this they wilfully forget, that there were heavens from of old, and an earth compacted out of water and amidst water, by the word of God;

v.6This passage

v.7but 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.

Cross references

Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.

  • Genesis 7:10

    And it came to pass after the seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.

  • Genesis 9:15

    and I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.

  • Job 12:15

    Behold, he withholdeth the waters, and they dry up; Again, he sendeth them out, and they overturn the earth.

  • Matthew 24:38

    For as in those days which were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark,

  • Luke 17:27

    They ate, they drank, they married, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.

  • 2 Peter 2:5

    and spared not the ancient world, but preserved Noah with seven others, a preacher of righteousness, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly;

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