The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
Parallel translations
- WEB The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some count slowness; but is patient with us, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
- KJV The 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.
- BSB The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise as some understand slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance.
- NASB The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not willing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance.
- NLT The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.
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
The Lord is not slow about his promise but patient, not wishing any to perish but all to come to repentance. It matters because God's apparent delay is mercy, giving time for repentance.
Overview
Peter reframes the delay of Christ's coming as a sign of God's patience, not negligence. The reason for the wait is gracious: God desires repentance rather than destruction. Christians debate the precise scope of 'all' and 'any,' but all agree this verse reveals God's genuine mercy and the urgency of repentance.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 17
- 1 Tim 2:4who desires all people to be saved and come to full knowledge of the truth.
- Rom 2:4Or do you despise the riches of his goodness, forbearance, and patience, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?
- Ps 86:15But you, Lord, are a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth.
- Hab 2:3For the vision is yet for the appointed time, and it hurries toward the end, and won’t prove false. Though it takes time, wait for it; because it will surely come. It won’t delay.
- Isa 30:18Therefore Yahweh will wait, that he may be gracious to you; and therefore he will be exalted, that he may have mercy on you, for Yahweh is a God of justice. Blessed are all those who wait for him.
- Rev 2:21I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality.
- Luke 18:7–8Won’t God avenge his chosen ones, who are crying out to him day and night, and yet he exercises patience with them?
- 1 Tim 1:16However, for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first, Jesus Christ might display all his patience, for an example of those who were going to believe in him for eternal life.
- 2 Pet 3:15Regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also, according to the wisdom given to him, wrote to you;
- Exod 34:6Yahweh passed by before him, and proclaimed, “Yahweh! Yahweh, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth,
- Heb 10:37“In a very little while, he who comes will come, and will not wait.
- Rom 9:22What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath made for destruction,
- Exod 18:23If you will do this thing, and God commands you so, then you will be able to endure, and all these people also will go to their place in peace.”
- Isa 46:13I bring my righteousness near. It is not far off, and my salvation will not wait. I will grant salvation to Zion, my glory to Israel.
- 1 Pet 3:20who before were disobedient, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, while the ship was being built. In it, few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water.
- Exod 32:32Yet now, if you will, forgive their sin — and if not, please blot me out of your book which you have written.”
- Exod 33:11Yahweh spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. He turned again into the camp, but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, didn’t depart from the Tent.
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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 3:9 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
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