2 Peter 3:10, will the earth be burned up, or found out?
2 Peter 3:10 has readings will be burned up and will be found (laid bare). A third printed reading says will NOT be found, so the verse’s final image remains textually disputed.
The APB text at this verse
The manuscripts, editions, and versions
The committee record at this verse
The APB's translation committee works blind: it is never told it is translating the Bible, never given a book name or a verse number, and it never sees the witnesses above. Since revision 3.5, the places where the manuscripts disagree are decided before translation by three readers, Grok 4.3, GPT-6 Astra, and Claude Fable 5.1, who see the readings and the witnesses by age and class but never a reference or a manuscript name. Whatever was done at this verse was done on the language and the evidence alone, and the record is public.
“The base text reads (nothing). The copies also carry ἡ [later majority tradition]; the committee kept the base text. The default wording is preferred because the external evidence is early and independent while the internal evidence shows the article is a secondary smoothing.”
“The base text reads (nothing). The copies also carry ἐν νυκτί, [later majority tradition]; the committee kept the base text. The default wording is preferred because the external evidence is early and multiple while the internal evidence favors the shorter reading as the source of the longer one.”
“The base text reads λυθήσεται,. The copies also carry the omission [later majority tradition]; the committee kept the base text. default wording chosen because the early and independent attestation outweighs the later majority tradition”
“The base text reads εὑρεθήσεται. The copies also carry the omission [later majority tradition], οὐχ εὑρεθήσεται. [early greek manuscript tradition]; the committee kept the base text. The default is retained because its stronger early attestation and its ability to explain the alternatives reinforce each other. Unspecified relationships among the early witnesses limit certainty.”
“The base text reads ἡμέρα. The copies also carry ἡ ἡμέρα [later majority tradition]; the committee kept the base text. default chosen because the early independent witnesses outweigh the later single tradition and the internal evidence favors the harder shorter reading”
“The base text reads κλέπτης. The copies also carry ἐν νυκτί [later majority tradition]; the committee kept the base text. default wording chosen because the external evidence is early and independent while the internal evidence favors the harder reading”
“Supplied implied subject for εὑρεθήσεται from preceding earth and works to produce grammatical English.”
In its APB 3.5 decision, the committee kept εὑρεθήσεται as the base text. Its note says, “The default is retained because its stronger early attestation and its ability to explain the alternatives reinforce each other.” The committee’s own translation record then explains its English construction: “Supplied implied subject for εὑρεθήσεται from preceding earth and works to produce grammatical English.” Its pericope audit verdict is flagged. The record therefore documents both a textual choice and an English rendering choice, without resolving every uncertainty among the witnesses.
The argument for each reading
If “found / laid bare”
The case for εὑρεθήσεται begins with its presence in Westcott-Hort (1881) and in the apparatus line for WH, Treg, and NA27. The Westcott-Hort entry further reports that the oldest uncials read the puzzling found wording. The APB printed text likewise renders the clause as “the earth and the works that are in it will be found.” Read as laid bare, the verb can fit the page’s audit image: earth and works come into view at the day of the Lord. The committee’s decision record says that the default wording has stronger early attestation and can explain the alternatives, while also acknowledging unspecified relationships among the early witnesses.
If “burned up”
The case for κατακαήσεται rests on the Robinson-Pierpont Byzantine Textform (2005), whose entry identifies this as the Byzantine text’s fire reading. Its wording, will be burned up, gives the earth an explicit fiery outcome and aligns directly with the surrounding mention of things being burned and loosed in the APB printed text. The raw apparatus sets this reading alongside εὑρεθήσεται and the NA28 conjectural wording, so it is a distinct textual option rather than a translation of the found reading. The packet does not provide further manuscript support or an internal argument for this reading.
The uncertainty concerns the verb at the end of the clause: found or laid bare, burned up, or the NA28 conjectural will NOT be found. The committee record itself says that unspecified relationships among the early witnesses limit certainty. This variant changes the immediate picture of what happens to earth and its works in 2 Peter 3:10. It does not alter the presence of the surrounding statements in the APB printed text about the day of the Lord, the heavens, the elements, repentance, or holy behavior and piety.
Common questions
Does 2 Peter 3:10 say the earth will be burned up or laid bare?
The packet records both: κατακαήσεται means will be burned up, while εὑρεθήσεται means will be found and is presented as laid bare. NA28 prints a third wording, οὐχ εὑρεθήσεται.
Why does NA28 say will NOT be found?
NA28 prints οὐχ εὑρεθήσεται as a conjectural emendation marked em in the apparatus. Its witness entry says that this wording has no Greek manuscript attestation.
What did the blind committee print at 2 Peter 3:10?
The committee kept εὑρεθήσεται and printed that the earth and the works that are in it will be found. Its record says it supplied the implied subject from preceding earth and works for grammatical English.
Related entries
Witness readings for critical editions are quoted from the SBLGNT apparatus (CC BY 4.0); Hebrew text from the Westminster Leningrad Codex (Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible). Readings of ancient manuscripts and versions are cited as published scholarly fact with their sources linked above. The page does not declare which reading is original.
The registry gives no verdict
The registry does not say which reading is original. Each page lists the witnesses, shows what the committee did with the same text, and leaves the judgment to the reader.