[Alamo-Girl]

Thank you again for sharing your insights, dear brother in Christ, and especially thank you for your blessing! May God ever bless you in this world and the one to come.

I took your advice and extended the context backwards and forwards to pick up the full paragraphs, both dealing with the subject matter of prophesy. In letter format, the two paragraphs look like this:

For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount. We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. – 2 Peter 1:16 through 2 Peter 2:1-3

I still read it the small way, though - that the first paragraph going into the second is speaking of prophets and prophecies.

Thank you for the conversation! It has been interesting.

[Heart-Rest]

Yes, the prophets are definitely spoken of there also, but it is pretty hard to ignore the additional reference to the then-current "teachers" (not prophets) which Peter also spoke about separately from the "prophets" in the sentences immediately following his exhortation telling them to avoid "private interpretation" of scriptural prophecy.   

Those "false teachers", by definition, were obviously teaching something completely different from the true teachings of the apostolic Christian Church, (and, therefore, had to be teaching something based on their own personal interpretation of the scriptures and prophecies).    Their grotesque mangling of the true teachings of the Church was based on their own interpretation of the scriptures, not based on the Church's interpretation of them (which Peter said he would continue to teach until he died, in opposition to all those false teachers and their erroneous private interpretations).

First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by the impulse of man, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.    But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.    And many will follow their licentiousness, and because of them the way of truth will be reviled.    2 Peter 1:20 - 2:2

The teachings of those false teachers Peter spoke about, were obviously based on their own private (wrong) interpretation of the scriptures, and they obviously disagreed with the true teachings of the Church, and Peter blasted them for it in that letter (2 Peter), and plainly told his readers to listen rather to the Church's teachers (like himself) instead.

(I suspect that some of the original readers of his letter there also ignored what he plainly said, and chose instead to go their own way, following those teachings based on their own personal "private interpretations" of the prophecies and teachings in the scriptures, but it was not a wise idea to do that back then, nor is it wise now.)