2 Peter 2 (New American Standard Bible)

2 Peter 2

The Rise of False Prophets

 ¹But ^(A)false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be ^(B)false teachers ^(C)among you, who will ^(D)secretly introduce ^(E)destructive heresies, even ^(F)denying the ^(G)Master who ^(H)bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves.

 ²Many will follow their ^(I)sensuality, and because of them ^(J)the way of the truth will be ^(K)maligned;

 ³and in their ^(L)greed they will ^(M)exploit you with ^(N)false words; ^(O)their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.

 ⁴For ^(P)if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and ^(Q)committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment;

 ⁵and did not spare ^(R)the ancient world, but preserved ^(S)Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a ^(T)flood upon the world of the ungodly;

 ⁶and if He ^(U)condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an ^(V)example to those who would ^(W)live ungodly lives thereafter;

 ⁷and if He ^(X)rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the ^(Y)sensual conduct of ^(Z)unprincipled men

 ⁸(for by what he saw and heard that ^(AA)righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds),

 ^9(AB)then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the ^(AC)day of judgment,

 ¹⁰and especially those who ^(AD)indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and ^(AE)despise authority Daring, ^(AF)self-willed, they do not tremble when they ^(AG)revile angelic majesties,

 ^11(AH)whereas angels who are greater in might and power do not bring a reviling judgment against them before the Lord.

 ¹²But ^(AI)these, like unreasoning animals, ^(AJ)born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, reviling where they have no knowledge, will in the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed,

 ¹³suffering wrong as ^(AK)the wages of doing wrong They count it a pleasure to ^(AL)revel in the ^(AM)daytime They are stains and blemishes, ^(AN)reveling in their ^[a]deceptions, as they ^(AO)carouse with you,

 ¹⁴having eyes full of adultery that never cease from sin, ^(AP)enticing ^(AQ)unstable souls, having a heart trained in ^(AR)greed, ^(AS)accursed children;

 ¹⁵forsaking ^(AT)the right way, they have gone astray, having followed ^(AU)the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved ^(AV)the wages of unrighteousness;

 ¹⁶but he received a rebuke for his own transgression, ^(AW)for a mute donkey, speaking with a voice of a man, restrained the madness of the prophet.

 ¹⁷These are ^(AX)springs without water and mists driven by a storm, ^(AY)for whom the black darkness has been reserved.

 ¹⁸For speaking out ^(AZ)arrogant words of ^(BA)vanity they ^(BB)entice by fleshly desires, by ^(BC)sensuality, those who barely ^(BD)escape from the ones who live in error,

 ¹⁹promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for ^(BE)by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved.

 ²⁰For if, after they have ^(BF)escaped the defilements of the world by ^(BG)the knowledge of the ^(BH)Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again ^(BI)entangled in them and are overcome, ^(BJ)the last state has become worse for them than the first.

 ^21(BK)For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from ^(BL)the holy commandment ^(BM)handed on to them.

 ²²It has happened to them according to the true proverb, "^(BN)A DOG RETURNS TO ITS OWN VOMIT," and, "A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire."