3:10

Christ will return when no one is expecting him. At that time the universe will burn up and in that way God will completely destroy it.

3:10a

the Day of the Lord: In the OT this expression meant the day when God would defeat his enemies and punish them. But the people who wrote the NT used the expression to refer to the day when Christ would return to judge all people.

come like a thief: Christ will come suddenly, at a time when people do not expect him to come. It may be necessary to clearly state this in your translation, otherwise the people who read it might think that Peter was saying that Christ is like a thief. If many people who read your translation think that it is not good to compare Christ to a thief, even when someone explains the similarity to them, then you should omit the reference to a thief and just say what the verse means. You could say something like “he will come unexpectedly.” Peter put the verb “will come” at the beginning of the sentence in the Greek in order to emphasize that Christ will certainly come.

3:10b

with a roar: The Greek word that Berean Standard Bible translates roar means “a rushing or hissing sound,” for example, the sound that a bird makes when it flaps its wings, or the sound that water makes when it flows in a river. Here it describes the crackling and roaring sound of a big fire burning.

3:10c

the elements: Most commentators think this means the heavenly bodies, such as the sun, the moon, and the stars. But people in Peter’s time who spoke Greek also used this word to refer to the basic ingredients of the physical world such as earth, air, and water.

3:10d

the earth and its works: The majority of scholars understand this to refer to the contents of the earth, whether made by man or by God. Most English versions follow this interpretation. It is recommended that you do so too.

will be laid bare: There is a problem with the Greek text here. The English versions treat the problem in different ways:

(1) heurethōsetai “will be found.” Some Greek manuscripts say this. The difficulty with this word is to decide what it means in this context. Some scholars say it means that people’s deeds will be laid bare. At the time that God will judge people, he will expose the things that they have done. Others think that this is a rhetorical question: “Will the earth and everything in it be found?” With the implied answer: “No, certainly not.” Then it means “the earth and everything in it will not be found,” that is, they will have vanished.

(Berean Standard Bible, New International Version (2011 Revision), New Revised Standard Version, New English Bible)

(2) kataka?setai “will be burned up.” Some Greek manuscripts say this.

(Revised Standard Version, The Jerusalem Bible)

(3) Some translations have “will disappear,” “vanish” which is equivalent to translating the first interpretation above as a rhetorical question.

(Good News Translation, Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English)

Scholars are not certain what Peter wrote. It could be any of the three possibilities above. So it may be best to follow the choice of the major translation used in your area. If you are using footnotes, you should add a note mentioning what the other manuscripts say.

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