Bold and arrogant, they do not tremble in awe as they^* blaspheme majestic beings, ¹¹whereas angels, who are greater in strength and power, do not bring against them a demeaning judgment.^e ¹²But these persons, like irrational animals born only with natural instincts for capture and killing, blaspheming about things^f they do not understand, in their destruction will also be destroyed, ¹³being harmed as the wages of unrighteousness. Considering reveling in the daytime a pleasure, they are stains and blemishes, carousing in their deceitful pleasures when they^* feast together with you, ¹⁴having eyes full of desire for an adulteress and unceasing from sin, enticing unstable persons, and^* having hearts trained for greediness. Accursed children! ¹⁵By^* leaving the straight path, they have gone astray, because they^* followed the way of Balaam the son of Bosor,^g who loved the wages of unrighteousness, ¹⁶but received a rebuke for his own lawlessness: a speechless donkey, speaking with a human voice, restrained the prophet’s madness^h.

¹⁷These people are waterless springs and mists driven by a hurricane, for whom the gloom of darkness has been reserved. ¹⁸For by speaking high-sounding but empty wordsⁱ, they entice with desires of the flesh and with licentiousness those who are scarcely escaping from those who live in error, ¹⁹promising them freedom although they^* themselves are slaves of depravity. For to whatever someone succumbs, by this he is also^j enslaved. ²⁰For if, after they^* have escaped from the defilements of the world through the knowledge of the Lord^k and Savior Jesus Christ, and they are again entangled in these things and succumb to them, the last state has become worse for them than the first. ²¹For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than having known it, to turn back from the holy commandment that had been delivered to them. ²²The statement of the true proverb has happened to them, “A dog returns to its own vomit,”^l and “A sow, after^* washing herself, returns^* to wallowing in the mud.”^m

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Footnotes

dLiterally “in lust of defilement,” translated here as an attributive genitive
*Here “as” is supplied as a component of the participle (“blaspheme”) which is understood as temporal
eSome manuscripts have “a demeaning judgment from the Lord”
fLiterally “with reference to which”
*Here “when” is supplied as a component of the participle (“feast together”) which is understood as temporal
*Here “and” is supplied in keeping with English style
*Here “by” is supplied as a component of the participle (“leaving”) which is understood as means
*Here “because” is supplied as a component of the participle (“followed”) which is understood as causal
gAlthough some English versions use “Beor” here, this is due to harmonization with the Old Testament; the vast majority of Greek manuscripts read “Bosor” here
hLiterally “the of the prophet madness”
iLiterally “for speaking pompous words of emptiness”
*Here “although” is supplied as a component of the participle (“are”) which is understood as concessive
jSome manuscripts omit “also”
*Here “after” is supplied as a component of the participle (“have escaped from”) which is understood as temporal
kSome manuscripts have “of our Lord”
lA paraphrased quotation from Prov 26:11
*Here “after” is supplied as a component of the participle (“washing herself”) which is understood as temporal
*The verb “returns” is not in the Greek text, but is an understood repetition from the previous clause
mThe source of this quotation is uncertain