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But ^(C1)false prophets also appeared among the people, just as there will also be ^(C2)false teachers ^(C3)among you, who will ^(C4)secretly introduce ^(C5)destructive heresies, even ^(C6)denying the ^(C7)Master who ^(C8)bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves.

Many will follow their ^(C1)indecent behavior, and because of them ^(C2)the way of the truth will be ^(C3)maligned;

and in their ^(C1)greed they will ^(C2)exploit you with ^(C3)false words; ^(C4)their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.

For ^(C1)if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into ^(F1)hell and ^(C2)committed them to ^(F2)pits of darkness, held for judgment;

and did not spare ^(C1)the ancient world, but protected ^(C2)Noah, a ^(F1)preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a ^(C3)flood upon the world of the ungodly;

and if He ^(C1)condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an ^(C2)example ^(F1)of what is coming for the ^(C3)ungodly;

and if He ^(C1)rescued righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the ^(C2)perverted conduct of ^(F1)(C3)unscrupulous people

(for by what he saw and heard that ^(C1)righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds),

^(C1)then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from ^(F1)a trial, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the ^(C2)day of judgment,

and especially those who ^(F1)(C1)indulge the flesh in its corrupt passion, and ^(C2)despise ^(F2)authority. ^(F3)Reckless, ^(C3)self-centered, they ^(C2)speak abusively of angelic ^(F4)majesties without trembling,

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^(C1)whereas angels who are greater in might and power do not bring a demeaning judgment against them before the Lord.

But ^(C1)these, like unreasoning animals, ^(C2)born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, using abusive speech where they have no knowledge, will in ^(F1)the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed,

suffering wrong as ^(C1)the wages of doing wrong. They count it a pleasure to ^(C2)revel in the ^(C3)daytime. They are stains and blemishes, ^(C2)reveling in their ^(F1)deceptions as they ^(C4)feast with you,

having eyes full of adultery ^(F1)that never cease from sin, ^(C1)enticing ^(C2)unstable souls, having hearts trained in ^(C3)greed, ^(C4)accursed children;

abandoning ^(C1)the right way, they have gone astray, having followed ^(C2)the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved ^(C3)the ^(F1)reward of unrighteousness;

but he received a rebuke for his own offense, ^(C1)for a mute donkey, speaking with a human voice, restrained the insanity of the prophet.

These are ^(C1)springs without water and mists driven by a storm, ^(C2)for whom the ^(F1)black darkness has been reserved.

For, while speaking out ^(C1)arrogant words of no ^(C2)value they ^(C3)entice by fleshly desires, by ^(C4)indecent behavior, those who barely ^(C5)escape from the ones who live in error,

promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for ^(C1)by what anyone is overcome, by this he is enslaved.

For if, after they have ^(C1)escaped the defilements of the world by ^(C2)the knowledge of the ^(C3)Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again ^(C4)entangled in them and are overcome, ^(C5)the last state has become worse for them than the first.

^(C1)For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from ^(C2)the holy commandment ^(C3)handed on to them.

^(F1)It has happened to them according to the true proverb, "^(C1)A DOG RETURNS TO ITS OWN VOMIT," and, "A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire."