2 Peter 2 (English Standard Version)

2 Peter 2

False Prophets and Teachers

 ¹But^(A) false prophets also arose among the people,^(B) just as there will be false teachers among you, who will^(C) secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master^(D) who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. ²And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth^(E) will be blasphemed. ³And^(F) in their greed they will exploit you^(G) with false words.^(H) Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.

 ⁴For if God did not spare^(I) angels when they sinned, but^(J) cast them into hell^[a] and committed them to chains^[b] of gloomy darkness^(K) to be kept until the judgment; ⁵if he did not spare the ancient world, but^(L) preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought^(M) a flood upon the world of the ungodly; ⁶if by^(N) turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction,^(O) making them an example of^(P) what is going to happen to the ungodly;^{[c] 7}and^(Q) if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked ⁸(for as that righteous man lived among them day after day,^(R) he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard); ⁹then^(S) the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials,^[d] and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, ¹⁰and especially^(T) those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and^(U) despise authority.

   

   Bold and willful, they do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones, ^11(V) whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a blasphemous judgment against them before the Lord. ^12(W) But these, like irrational animals,^(X) creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their destruction, ¹³suffering wrong as^(Y) the wage for their wrongdoing. They count it pleasure^(Z) to revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions,^[e] while^(AA) they feast with you. ¹⁴They have eyes full of adultery,^(AB) insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts^(AC) trained in greed.^(AD) Accursed children! ¹⁵Forsaking the right way,^(AE) they have gone astray. They have followed^(AF) the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved^(AG) gain from wrongdoing, ¹⁶but was rebuked for his own transgression;^(AH) a speechless donkey spoke with human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.

 ^17(AI) These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm.^(AJ) For them the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved. ¹⁸For,^(AK) speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely^(AL) escaping from those who live in error. ¹⁹They promise them^(AM) freedom,^(AN) but they themselves are slaves^[f] of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved. ²⁰For if,^(AO) after they have escaped the defilements of the world^(AP) through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome,^(AQ) the last state has become worse for them than the first. ²¹For^(AR) it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from^(AS) the holy commandment delivered to them. ²²What the true proverb says has happened to them: "The^(AT) dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire."