2 Peter 2

¹Now there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. [They] will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them — bringing swift destruction on themselves.

²Many will follow in their depravity, [and] because of [them] the way of truth will be defamed.

³In their greed, [these false teachers] will exploit you with deceptive words. The longstanding verdict against them remains in force, and their destruction {does} not sleep.

⁴For if God {did} not spare [the] angels when they sinned, but cast [them] deep into hell, placing [them] in chains of darkness to be held for judgment;

⁵[if] He did not spare [the] ancient world when He brought [the] flood [on its] ungodly [people], but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, among the eight;

⁶[if] He condemned [the] cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction, reducing [them] to ashes [as] an example of what is coming on the ungodly;

⁷and [if] He rescued Lot, a righteous [man] distressed by the depraved conduct of the lawless

⁸(for that righteous [man], living among them day after day, was tormented [in his] righteous soul [by the] lawless deeds he saw and heard )—

⁹[ if all this is so, then the ] Lord knows how to rescue [the] godly from trials and to hold [the] unrighteous for punishment on [the] day of judgment.

¹⁰[ Such punishment is ] specially [reserved] for those who indulge [the] corrupt desires of [the] flesh and despise authority. Bold [and] self-willed, they are unafraid to slander glorious beings.

¹¹Yet not even angels, [though] greater in strength and power, dare to bring such slanderous charges against them before [the] Lord.

¹²These [men] [are] like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be captured and destroyed. They blaspheme in [matters] they do not understand, [and like such creatures], they too will be destroyed.

¹³The harm they will suffer [is the] wages of [their] wickedness. They consider it a pleasure to carouse in broad daylight. [They are] blots and blemishes, reveling in their deception as they feast with you.

¹⁴[Their] eyes are full of adultery; their desire for sin is never satisfied; they seduce [the] unstable. [They are] accursed children with hearts trained in greed.

¹⁵They have left [the] straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam [son] of Beor, who loved [the] wages of wickedness.

¹⁶But he was rebuked for his transgression by a donkey, [ otherwise ] without speech, that spoke with a man’s voice [and] restrained the prophet’s madness.

¹⁷These [men] are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them.

¹⁸With lofty [but] empty words, they appeal [to the] sensual passions of [the] flesh [and] entice those [who are] just escaping from [others] who live in error.

¹⁹They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves to depravity. For a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him.

²⁰If indeed they have escaped the corruption of the world through [the] knowledge of [our] Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, only to be entangled [and] overcome by it again, their final [condition] is worse than [it was] at first.

²¹It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than to have known [it] and then to turn away from the holy commandment passed on to them.

²²Of them the proverbs are true: “A dog returns to [its] vomit,” and, “A sow that is washed [goes back] to [her] wallowing in [the] mud.”