Texts in Conversation
2 Peter 3 and Sirach 18 share an emphasis on divine patience as a response to human weakness, portraying this delay not as indifference but as a deliberate act of mercy, which leads to repentance and forgiveness.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Sirach 18:11
Ben Sira, Ecclesiasticus
Deuterocanon
8 What is mankind, and what purpose do they serve? What is their good, and what is their evil? 9 The number of man’s days at the most are a hundred years. 10 As a drop of water from the sea, and a pebble from the sand, so are a few years in the day of eternity. 11 For this cause the Lord was patient over them, and poured out his mercy upon them. 12 He saw and perceived their end, that it is evil. Therefore he multiplied his forgiveness. 13 The mercy of a man is on his neighbor; but the mercy of the Lord is on all flesh: reproving, chastening, teaching, and bringing back, as a shepherd does his flock.
Date: 195–180 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
2 Peter 3:9
New Testament
8 Now, dear friends, do not let this one thing escape your notice, that a single day is like a thousand years with the Lord and a thousand years are like a single day. 9 The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some regard slowness, but is being patient toward you because he does not wish for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief; when it comes, the heavens will disappear with a horrific noise, and the celestial bodies will melt away in a blaze, and the earth and every deed done on it will be laid bare.
Date: 120–130 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... The text of 2 Peter first cites Psalm 90:4 and then remarks that God delays judgment to give time for repentance because He is merciful. (Compare Genesis Rabbah 22:1; Sirach 18) Although R. Joshua’s remarks were not strictly apologetic in function, they do situate Psalm 90:4 within the context of the delay of divine judgment and mercy which are also found in 2 Peter 3:8-9. As regards the conclusion of the world, “one day is as a thousand years” occurs both in discussions of the length of the messiah’s day, and in explanations of the length of the world. In one text, the thousand-year day is described as a day of vengeance according to Isaiah 63:7 ..."
Jerome H. Neyrey, “The Form and Background of the Polemic in 2 Peter,” JBL 99.3 (1980): 407–431.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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