2 Peter 1:5–2:22
5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith asupply bmoral 1excellence, and in your moral excellence, cknowledge,
6 and in your knowledge, aself-control, and in your self-control, bperseverance, and in your perseverance, cgodliness,
7 and in your godliness, abrotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.
8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor aunfruitful in the true bknowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9 For he who lacks these qualities is ablind or short-sighted, having forgotten his bpurification from his former sins.
10 Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His acalling and bchoosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never cstumble;
11 for in this way the entrance into athe eternal kingdom of our bLord and Savior Jesus Christ will be cabundantly dsupplied to you.
12 Therefore, aI will always be ready to remind you of these things, even though you already know them, and have been established in bthe truth which is present with you.
13 I consider it aright, as long as I am in bthis earthly dwelling, to cstir you up by way of reminder,
14 knowing that athe laying aside of my earthly dwelling is imminent, bas also our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me.
15 And I will also be diligent that at any time after my adeparture you will be able to call these things to mind.
16 For we did not follow cleverly devised atales when we made known to you the bpower and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were ceyewitnesses of His majesty.
17 For when He received honor and glory from God the Father, such an 1autterance as this was 2made to Him by the bMajestic Glory, “This is My beloved Son with whom I am well-pleased”—
18 and we ourselves heard this 1utterance made from heaven when we were with Him on the aholy mountain.
19 1So we have athe prophetic word made more bsure, to which you do well to pay attention as to ca lamp shining in a dark place, until the dday dawns and the emorning star arises fin your hearts.
20 But aknow this first of all, that bno prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation,
21 for ano prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men bmoved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.
1 But afalse prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be bfalse teachers camong you, who will dsecretly introduce edestructive heresies, even fdenying the gMaster who hbought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves.
2 Many will follow their asensuality, and because of them bthe way of the truth will be cmaligned;
3 and in their agreed they will bexploit you with cfalse words; dtheir judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.
4 For aif God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and bcommitted them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment;
5 and did not spare athe ancient world, but preserved bNoah, a 1preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a cflood upon the world of the ungodly;
6 and if He acondemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an bexample to those who would clive ungodly lives thereafter;
7 and if He arescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the bsensual conduct of cunprincipled men
8 (for by what he saw and heard that arighteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds),
9 athen the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from 1temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the bday of judgment,
10 and especially those who 1aindulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and bdespise authority.
Daring, cself-willed, they do not tremble when they brevile angelic 2majesties,
11 awhereas angels who are greater in might and power do not bring a reviling judgment against them before the Lord.
12 But athese, like unreasoning animals, bborn as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, reviling where they have no knowledge, will in 1the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed,
13 suffering wrong as athe wages of doing wrong. They count it a pleasure to brevel in the cdaytime. They are stains and blemishes, breveling in their 1deceptions, as they dcarouse with you,
14 having eyes full of adultery that never cease from sin, aenticing bunstable souls, having a heart trained in cgreed, daccursed children;
15 forsaking athe right way, they have gone astray, having followed bthe way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved cthe wages of unrighteousness;
16 but he received a rebuke for his own transgression, afor a mute donkey, speaking with a voice of a man, restrained the madness of the prophet.
17 These are asprings without water and mists driven by a storm, bfor whom the 1black darkness has been reserved.
18 For speaking out aarrogant words of bvanity they centice by fleshly desires, by dsensuality, those who barely eescape from the ones who live in error,
19 promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for aby what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved.
20 For if, after they have aescaped the defilements of the world by bthe knowledge of the cLord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again dentangled in them and are overcome, ethe last state has become worse for them than the first.
21 aFor it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from bthe holy commandment chanded on to them.
22 1It has happened to them according to the true proverb, “aA dog returns to its own vomit,” and, “A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire.”