³ First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will appear who have led lives of indulgence. ⁴ They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ that was promised? Ever since our ancestors^[a] died, everything has remained just as it was from the beginning of creation.”

^5 [b]These people deliberately ignore the fact that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago, and that the earth stands out of water and in water.