ISB ~ 2 Peter 3 v10

the day of the Lord:A biblical expression for times of divine judgment on the world.

• It is used repeatedly in the OT for those turning points in history when God called nations to account for their sinful ways, whether it be Israel (Amos 5:18-24; Joel 2:1-11; Zeph 1:7-13) or one of its Near Eastern neighbors (Jer 46:10; Joel 3:11-15; Obad 15-18). Even the holy city of Jerusalem was the recipient of the Lord’s justice on more than one occasion (Lam 2:22; Zech 14:1-5; Mal 3:15; 4:1-6). Each of these localized judgments serves as a foreshadowing of the universal judgment of the world envisioned by Peter.

like a thief:i.e., unexpectedly and without warning. The simile goes back to Jesus (Mt 24:43-44) and was also used by Paul (1 Thess 5:2) and the Book of Revelation (Rev 3:3; 16:15).

the elements:Writers in antiquity often used this Greek term for the foundational substances of the material world (Wis 7:17), usually thought to be earth, air, water, and fire (e.g., Josephus, Antiquities 3, 183). It can also refer to heavenly bodies.

See word study:Elemental Spirits at Col 2:8.