ペテロの手紙第二 3
1 第三項 キリストの降臨及び世の終。 至愛なる者よ、我が今此第二の書簡を贈るは、此兩の書簡を以て汝等の正直なる理性を喚起し、
This, dear friends, is my second letter to you. In both of them I have tried, by appealing to your remembrance, to arouse your better feelings.
2 聖なる預言者等の預め語りし言、及び汝等の使徒等の傳へし、救主にて在す主の命令を記憶せしめん為なり。
I want you to recall what was foretold by the holy Prophets, as well as the Command of our Lord and Saviour given to you through your Apostles.
3 先此事を知るべし、末の日には、己の慾に從ひて歩める嘲弄者等來りて言はん、
First be assured of this, that, as the age draws to an end, scoffers, led by their own passions,
4 其降臨の約束は何處にかある、先祖等の眠りし以來、開闢の初に齊しく、総て變わる事なきに、と。
will come and ask scoffingly — ‘Where is his promised Coming? Ever since our fathers passed to their rest, everything remains just as it was when the world was first created!’
5 彼等は、故に次の事を知らざるが如し。即ち原天あり、地も亦神の御言によりて、水より出でて水を以て成立ちたりしに、
For they wilfully shut their eyes to the fact that long ago the heavens existed; and the earth, also — formed out of water and by the action of water, by the fiat of God;
6 其時の世は、又神の御言と水とにより、水に溺れて亡びたりき。
and that by the same means the world which then existed was destroyed in a deluge of water.
7 然るに今在る所の天と地とは、同じ御言を以て保存せられ、火に焼かれん為に、敬虔ならざる者の審判と亡との日まで保たるるなり。
But the present heavens and earth, by the same fiat, have been reserved for fire, and are being kept for the day of the judgment and destruction of the godless.
8 至愛なる者よ、汝等斯一事を知らざるべからず、即ち主に於ては一日は一千年の如く、一千年は一日の如し。
But you, dear friends, must never shut your eyes to the fact that, to the Lord, one day is the same as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
9 或人々の思へるが如くに、主は御約束を延し給ふに非ず、唯人の亡ぶるを好み給はずして皆改心するに至らんことを好み給ふにより、汝等の為に忍耐を以て處置し給ふなり。
The Lord is not slow to fulfil his promise, as some count slowness; but he is forbearing with you, as it is not his will that any of you should perish, but that all should be brought to repentance.
10 然れど主の日は盗人の如く來るべし、其時天は大いなる轟を以て去り、物質は焼毀れ、地と其上なる被造物とは焼毀びん。
The Day of the Lord will come like a thief; and on that day the heavens will pass away with a crash, the elements will be burnt up and dissolved, and the earth and all that is in it will be disclosed.
11 斯の如く萬物の毀るべきを覚りて、汝等は如何にも聖なる行状及び敬虔の業に於て、
Now, since all these things are in the process of dissolution, think what you yourselves ought to be — what holy and pious lives you ought to lead,
12 主の日の來るを待ち、且之を早むべきなり。彼日に當りて、天は燃毀れ、物質は火勢を以て鎔かさるべし。
while you await and hasten the coming of the Day of God. At its coming the heavens will be dissolved in fire, and the elements melted by heat,
13 然れど我等は其約束に從ひて、義の住む所の新しき天と新しき地とを待つなり。
but we look for ‘new heavens and a new earth,’ where righteousness shall have its home, in fulfilment of the promise of God.
14 是故に、至愛なる者よ、自ら是等の事を待ちつつ、平和に於て汚染なく瑕疵なく認められん事を努めよ。
Therefore, dear friends, in expectation of these things, make every effort to be found by him spotless, blameless, and at peace.
15 又我主の忍耐を救なりと思へ。我等が至愛の兄弟パウロが、其賜はりたる知識を以て汝等に書贈り、
Regard our Lord’s forbearance as your one hope of Salvation. This is what our dear Brother Paul wrote to you, with the wisdom that God gave him.
16 又凡ての書簡に於て是等の事に就きて語りしが如し。彼が書簡には往々暁り難き所ありて、無學者と心の堅からざる者とは、他の聖書を曲解するが如く、之をも曲解して自ら亡に至る。
It is the same in all his letters, when he speaks in them about these subjects. There are some things in them difficult to understand, which untaught and weak people distort, just as they do all other writings, to their own Ruin.
17 然れば兄弟等よ、汝等は豫め之を知りて注意せよ、不法人の迷に誘はれて己が堅固を失ふこと勿れ。
Do you, therefore, dear friends, now that you know this beforehand, be on your guard against being led away by the errors of reckless people, and so lapsing from your present steadfastness;
The Great Flood
