Bible Strands
2 Peter 3:5
But they deliberately overlook the fact that long ago by God’s word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water,
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Peter addresses his own readers, correcting scoffers who ask "Where is the promise of His coming?" (v. 4) and assume the present order is permanent.
The words — λανθάνει (lanthanei), literally "it is hidden from them," is passive: the text does not say they choose to overlook but that the fact is concealed from them, though θέλοντας (thelontas, "willingly") qualifies their stance as deliberate.
The thread — The water-and-formation motif echoes Psalms 24:2 ("founded it upon the seas"), Genesis 1:9 (waters gathered so dry land appears), and Hebrews 11:3 (the universe formed by God's command, not out of what is seen).
Why it lands — The verse removes the scoffers' only argument—empirical continuity—by pointing to a prior world already destroyed by water, forcing the reader to face that the present order is no more permanent than the last one.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:
Cross-references
- Hebrews 11:3 By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.
- Psalms 24:2 For He has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters.
- Genesis 1:9 And God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered into one place, so that the dry land may appear.” And it was so.
- Genesis 1:6 And God said, “Let there be an expanse between the waters, to separate the waters from the waters.”
- Psalms 33:6 By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and all the stars by the breath of His mouth.
- Psalms 136:6 He spread out the earth upon the waters. His loving devotion endures forever.
- John 3:19 And this is the verdict: The Light has come into the world, but men loved the darkness rather than the Light because their deeds were evil.
- 2 Thessalonians 2:10 and with every wicked deception directed against those who are perishing, because they refused the love of the truth that would have saved them.
- Romans 1:28 Furthermore, since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, He gave them up to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done.
- Colossians 1:17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.