<p>3:8 <i>But beloved, do not forget this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day</i>- The attitude of willing ignorance by the unworthy can quite easily be adopted by us. &quot;Beloved, be <i>not</i> ignorant (as those of :5 were) of this one (Greek 'other') thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day&quot; (AV). Peter bids us be aware of one other thing- that God can collapse and expand periods of time as He wishes. Not only can one of God's &quot;days&quot; be a vast expanse of time to us in human terms, but also one of our brief days can be turned into a thousand years by God if He wishes. This principle is illuminated by appreciating that Peter is here quoting Ps. 90:4. This prayer of Moses was bringing before God the miseries of the condemned generation in the wilderness, and pleading that God would repent of i.e. change His decision to bar them from entering the land (Ps. 90:12-17). After all, Moses had previously changed God's declared purpose of destroying Israel and making of him a nation; and had not God declared to him that He was willing to show Moses the fact that His purpose could be changed in accordance with human behaviour (Num. 14:34 A.V.mg.)? Thus Moses had every reason to try to change God's plan again through prayer. Against this background Peter is reasoning that if Moses could try to pray for the days of punishment for Israel to be shortened and for their sin to be overlooked, then we too can find reason to pray for the shortening of the days until the Kingdom, and for God's mercy upon the sinners of His people. There are a number of significant parallels between Peter's argument and Psalm 90:</p><div align=center><table border=0 cellspacing=4 cellpadding=0>    <tbody>        <tr>            <td width=307 valign=top>            <p><b>Psalm   90</b></p>            </td>            <td width=307 valign=top>            <p><b>2 Peter   3</b></p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=307 valign=top>            <p>:2</p>            </td>            <td width=307 valign=top>            <p>:5</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=307 valign=top>            <p>:5</p>            </td>            <td width=307 valign=top>            <p>:8</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=307 valign=top>            <p>:6</p>            </td>            <td width=307 valign=top>            <p>The   language of 1 Pet. 1:24; Is. 40:6-8 re. the first century Jews</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=307 valign=top>            <p>:7</p>            </td>            <td width=307 valign=top>            <p>:7,10,12</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=307 valign=top>            <p>:12</p>            </td>            <td width=307 valign=top>            <p>:2,15,18</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=307 valign=top>            <p>:13,14</p>            </td>            <td width=307 valign=top>            <p>:12</p>            </td>        </tr>    </tbody></table></div><p>And for the enthusiast: Ps. 90:16,17= Hab. 3:2 (re. the second coming) = 2 Pet. 3:12,13.</p><p>It is quite possible to translate 2 Pet. 3:8 as &quot;One day with the Lord is as a thousand&quot;, which would suggest another Psalm allusion- this time to Ps. 84:18: &quot;A day in thy courts is better than a thousand&quot;. In this case Peter would be saying 'By all means be aware that a day of judgment and condemnation will surely come, as outlined in :5-7; but beloved, do be mindful too of the wonderful reward. Just 24 (12?) hours of perfect fellowship with the Lord, unmarred by our sin, is worth a thousand years of this life'. Truly an inspiring thought, and a motivation to come to appreciate the righteousness of God.</p>