2 Peter 2:13-20

New International Version

¹³ They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done. Their idea of pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight.^(A) They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their pleasures while they feast with you.^{[a](B) 14} With eyes full of adultery, they never stop sinning; they seduce^(C) the unstable;^(D) they are experts in greed^(E)—an accursed brood!^{(F) 15} They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam^(G) son of Bezer,^[b] who loved the wages of wickedness. ¹⁶ But he was rebuked for his wrongdoing by a donkey—an animal without speech—who spoke with a human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.^(H)

¹⁷ These people are springs without water^(I) and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them.^{(J) 18} For they mouth empty, boastful words^(K) and, by appealing to the lustful desires of the flesh, they entice people who are just escaping^(L) from those who live in error. ¹⁹ They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity—for “people are slaves to whatever has mastered them.”^{(M) 20} If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing^(N) our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ^(O) and are again entangled in it and are overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning.^(P)