2 Peter 2

THE JUDGMENT OF FALSE TEACHERS

2There were indeed false prophets^ac among the people, just as there will be false teachers^ad among you. They will bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought^ae them, and will bring swift destruction on themselves. ²Many will follow their depraved ways, and the way of truth will be maligned because of them.^{af 3}They will exploit^ag you in their greed^ah with made-up stories. Their condemnation,^ai pronounced long ago, is not idle, and their destruction does not sleep.

⁴For if God didn’t spare^aj the angels who sinned but cast them into hell^Aak and delivered them in chains^B of utter darkness to be kept for judgment;^{al 5}and if he didn’t spare the ancient world, but protected Noah,^am a preacher of righteousness, and seven others,^Can when he brought the flood on the world of the ungodly; ⁶and if he reduced the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah^a to ashes and condemned them to extinction,^D making them an example of what is coming to the ungodly;^{b 7}and if he rescued righteous Lot,^c distressed by the depraved behavior of the immoral ⁸(for as that righteous man lived among them day by day, his righteous soul was tormented by the lawless deeds he saw and heard^d)—⁹then the Lord knows how to rescue^e the godly from trials and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment,^{f 10}especially those who follow the polluting desires of the flesh and despise authority.^g

Bold, arrogant people! They are not afraid to slander the glorious ones; ¹¹however, angels, who are greater in might and power, do not bring a slanderous charge against them before the Lord.^{E 12}But these people, like irrational animals—creatures of instinct born to be caught and destroyed—slander what they do not understand, and in their destruction they too will be destroyed. ¹³They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done. They consider it a pleasure to carouse in broad daylight. They are spots and blemishes, delighting in their deceptions^F while they feast with you. ¹⁴They have eyes full of adultery^h that never stop looking for sin. They seduce unstable people and have hearts trained in greed. Children under a curse!^{i 15}They have gone astray by abandoning the straight path^j and have followed the path of Balaam,^k the son of Bosor,^G who loved the wages of wickedness^{l 16}but received a rebuke for his lawlessness: A speechless donkey spoke with a human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.^m

¹⁷These people are springs without water, mists driven by a storm. The gloom of darkness has been reserved for them.^{n 18}For by uttering boastful, empty words,^o they seduce, with fleshly desires and debauchery, people who have barely escaped^A from those who live in error. ¹⁹They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption, since people are enslaved to whatever defeats them.^{p 20}For if, having escaped the world’s impurity through the knowledge of the Lord^B and Savior Jesus Christ,^q they are again entangled in these things and defeated, the last state is worse for them than the first.^{r 21}For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness^s than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy command^t delivered^u to them.^{v 22}It has happened to them according to the true proverb: A dog returns to its own vomit,^Cw and, “A washed sow returns to wallowing in the mud.”