The destruction of creation described in verses 10 and 12 pictures a return to chaos, disorder, and lifelessness. Verse 13, however, talks about a new creation to replace the old creation that will be destroyed. Whether this is an entirely new creation or a renewal of creation will depend on our interpretation of the previous verses, especially the last part of verse 10.

His refers to God. The promise referred to is probably Isa 65.17 or 66.22, or both. For heavens see comments on verses 5 and 10 above.

We includes the writer and all his readers. One possible translation is “we Christians.”

Righteousness may be “justice” or “goodness,” but it is probably better taken as living according to God’s demands, doing God’s will. Righteousness here is personified, that is, it is spoken of as acting like a person; this may not be natural in some languages, and therefore the clause may need to be restructured; for example, “people everywhere will live according to God’s will.” Dwells describes both constancy and naturalness, that is, it will be part of the nature of people to live righteously. Translations find different ways of capturing the intent of the idiom righteousness dwells; for example, New English Bible “the home of justice,” An American Translation “uprightness will prevail.”

An alternative translation model for this verse is:
• But we Christians wait for the new heavens and new earth that God has promised (to bring into being), where people everywhere will live according to God’s will (or, do what God wants them to do).

Quoted with permission from Arichea, Daniel C. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The Second Letter from Peter. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1980. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .