⁴ They will say: ‘Christ promised that he would return to this world. But he has not returned! Our ancestors have already died, but since God made the world in the beginning, nothing has changed.’

⁵ These people choose to forget things that they really know. A long time ago, God spoke his word and he made the sky and the earth. He caused land to come up through water. He made the land to be separate from the water.^{[a] 6} Also, God used water to destroy that same world long ago. He spoke his word and he covered the land with water.^[b]