The Judgment of False Teachers

2 There were indeed false prophets^(A) among the people, just as there will be false teachers^(B) among you. They will bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought^(C) them, and will bring swift destruction on themselves. ² Many will follow their depraved ways, and the way of truth will be maligned because of them.^{(D) 3} They will exploit^(E) you in their greed^(F) with made-up stories. Their condemnation,^(G) pronounced long ago, is not idle, and their destruction does not sleep.

⁴ For if God didn’t spare^(H) the angels who sinned but cast them into hell^[a](I) and delivered them in chains^[b] of utter darkness to be kept for judgment;^{(J) 5} and if he didn’t spare the ancient world, but protected Noah,^(K) a preacher of righteousness, and seven others,^[c](L) when he brought the flood on the world of the ungodly; ⁶ and if he reduced the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah^(M) to ashes and condemned them to extinction,^[d] making them an example of what is coming to the ungodly;^{(N) 7} and if he rescued righteous Lot,^(O) distressed by the depraved behavior of the immoral ⁸ (for as that righteous man lived among them day by day, his righteous soul was tormented by the lawless deeds he saw and heard^(P))— ⁹ then the Lord knows how to rescue^(Q) the godly from trials and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment,^{(R) 10} especially those who follow the polluting desires of the flesh and despise authority.^(S)

Bold, arrogant people! They are not afraid to slander the glorious ones; ¹¹ however, angels, who are greater in might and power, do not bring a slanderous charge against them before the Lord.^{[e] 12} But these people, like irrational animals—creatures of instinct born to be caught and destroyed—slander what they do not understand, and in their destruction they too will be destroyed. ¹³ They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done. They consider it a pleasure to carouse in broad daylight. They are spots and blemishes, delighting in their deceptions^[f] while they feast with you. ¹⁴ They have eyes full of adultery^(T) that never stop looking for sin. They seduce unstable people and have hearts trained in greed. Children under a curse!^{(U) 15} They have gone astray by abandoning the straight path^(V) and have followed the path of Balaam,^(W) the son of Bosor,^[g] who loved the wages of wickedness^{(X) 16} but received a rebuke for his lawlessness: A speechless donkey spoke with a human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.^(Y)

¹⁷ These people are springs without water, mists driven by a storm. The gloom of darkness has been reserved for them.^{(Z) 18} For by uttering boastful, empty words,^(AA) they seduce, with fleshly desires and debauchery, people who have barely escaped^[h] from those who live in error. ¹⁹ They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption, since people are enslaved to whatever defeats them.^{(AB) 20} For if, having escaped the world’s impurity through the knowledge of the Lord^[i] and Savior Jesus Christ,^(AC) they are again entangled in these things and defeated, the last state is worse for them than the first.^{(AD) 21} For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness^(AE) than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy command^(AF) delivered^(AG) to them.^{(AH) 22} It has happened to them according to the true proverb: A dog returns to its own vomit,^[j](AI) and, “A washed sow returns to wallowing in the mud.”