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False Prophets and Teachers

¹ But ^(a)false prophets also arose among the people, ^(b)just as there will be false teachers among you, who will ^(c)secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master ^(d)who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. ² And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth ^(e)will be blasphemed. ³ And ^(f)in their greed they will exploit you ^(g)with false words. ^(h)Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.

⁴ For if God did not spare ⁽ⁱ⁾angels when they sinned, but ^(j)cast them into hell^[a] and committed them to chains^[b] of gloomy darkness ^(k)to be kept until the judgment; ⁵ if he did not spare the ancient world, but ^(l)preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought ^(m)a flood upon the world of the ungodly; ⁶ if by ⁽ⁿ⁾turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, ^(o)making them an example of ^(p)what is going to happen to the ungodly;^{[c] 7} and ^(q)if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked ⁸ (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, ^(r)he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard); ⁹ then ^(s)the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials,^[d] and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, ¹⁰ and especially ^(t)those who indulge^[e] in the lust of defiling passion and ^(u)despise authority.

Bold and willful, they do not tremble ^(v)as they blaspheme the glorious ones, ^11 (w)whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a blasphemous judgment against them before the Lord. ^12 (x)But these, like irrational animals, ^(y)creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their destruction, ¹³ suffering wrong as ^(z)the wage for their wrongdoing. They count it pleasure ^(aa)to revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions,^[f] while ^(ab)they feast with you. ¹⁴ They have eyes full of adultery,^{[g] (ac)}insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts ^(ad)trained in greed. ^(ae)Accursed children! ¹⁵ Forsaking the right way, ^(af)they have gone astray. They have followed ^(ag)the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved ^(ah)gain from wrongdoing, ¹⁶ but was rebuked for his own transgression; ^(ai)a speechless donkey spoke with human voice and restrained the prophet's madness.

^17 (aj)These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm. ^(ak)For them the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved. ¹⁸ For, ^(al)speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely ^(am)escaping from those who live in error. ¹⁹ They promise them ^(an)freedom, ^(ao)but they themselves are slaves^[h] of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved. ²⁰ For if, ^(ap)after they have escaped the defilements of the world ^(aq)through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, ^(ar)the last state has become worse for them than the first. ²¹ For ^(as)it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from ^(at)the holy commandment delivered to them. ²² What the true proverb says has happened to them: "The ^(au)dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire."