Beloved, do not let this one thing escape your notice: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.
Parallel translations
- WEB But don’t forget this one thing, beloved, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
- KJV But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
- NKJV But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
- NASB But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.
- NLT But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Believers should not forget that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day. It matters because God's sense of time differs from ours, so apparent delay is no failure.
Overview
Echoing Psalm 90:4, Peter reminds readers that God is not bound by human reckoning of time. What seems like delay to us is nothing to the eternal God. This perspective answers the scoffers' impatience and steadies believers waiting for Christ's return.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 4
- Ps 90:4For in Your sight a thousand years are but a day that passes, or a watch of the night.
- Rom 11:25I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you will not be conceited: A hardening in part has come to Israel, until the full number of the Gentiles has come in.
- 1 Cor 12:1Now about spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed.
- 1 Cor 10:1I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud, and that they all passed through the sea.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
The sure word of the prophets and the promise of the coming day of the Lord anchor the believer in the knowledge of 'our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.'
How 2 Peter 3:8 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.