^{[a] 4} and saying, “Where is this promise of His coming?^[b] Ever since the fathers died,^[c] everything goes on just as it has from the beginning of creation.” ⁵ For in holding to this idea, it escapes their notice that the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God. ^{[d] 6} Through these, the world of that time was destroyed by being flooded with water.