2 Peter 3:9
What does 2 Peter 3:9 mean?
A plain-English look at 2 Peter 3:9 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What 2 Peter 3:9 means
The Lord’s seeming delay is not slackness or failure to keep His promise. It is patience toward you, reflecting His merciful will that none should perish but that all should come to repentance. Time is given as space for turning to God. This statement reveals God’s heart toward sinners and the gospel call that still goes out. The promise will be kept; the clock ticks to allow salvation to spread. Believers should interpret the wait as an opportunity, not a problem. Repentance, not complacency, is the fitting response to divine forbearance. God’s patience is real, but it is not endless; it is designed to lead people into life before the certain day arrives.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some count slackness; but is longsuffering to you-ward, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
KJV
King James Version · 1611The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some count slackness; but is longsuffering to you-ward, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949The Lord is not slow in keeping his word, as he seems to some, but he is waiting in mercy for you, not desiring the destruction of any, but that all may be turned from their evil ways.
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862the Lord is not slow in regard to the promise, as certain count slowness, but is long-suffering to us, not counselling any to be lost but all to pass on to reformation,
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752The Lord delayeth not his promise, as some imagine, but dealeth patiently for your sake, not willing that any should perish, but that all should return to penance,
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890[The] Lord does not delay his promise, as some account of delay, but is longsuffering towards you, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
Context
Building on God’s relation to time (v8), verse 9 clarifies the moral purpose behind the delay: divine longsuffering aimed at repentance. This counters the scoffers’ charge of broken promise. Yet patience does not cancel judgment; verse 10 will immediately affirm the sudden, catastrophic coming of the day of the Lord. Verses 11–12 will then press the ethical implications for believers, followed by the hope of a new creation (v13).
v.8But forget not this one thing, beloved, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
v.9This passage
v.10But the day of the Lord will come as a thief; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall be dissolved with fervent heat, and the earth and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Hebrews 10:37
For yet a very little while, He that cometh shall come, and shall not tarry.
- Revelation 2:21
And I gave her time that she should repent; and she willeth not to repent of her fornication.
- 1 Timothy 1:16
howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me as chief might Jesus Christ show forth all his longsuffering, for an ensample of them that should thereafter believe on him unto eternal life.
- 1 Peter 3:20
that aforetime were disobedient, when the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water:
- Exodus 18:23
If thou shalt do this thing, and God command thee so, then thou shalt be able to endure, and all this people also shall go to their place in peace.
- Romans 9:22
What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering vessels of wrath fitted unto destruction:
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