¹⁸ And

²⁴ But when the righteous turn away from their righteousness and commit iniquity and do the same abominable things that the wicked do, shall they live? None of the righteous deeds that they have done shall be remembered, for the treachery of which they are guilty and the sin they have committed, they shall die.^(A)

³¹ For if they do this when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?”^(A)

⁵ and if he did not spare the ancient world, even though he saved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood on the world of the ungodly;^{(A) 6} and if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to destruction^[a] and made them an example of what is coming to the ungodly;^[b]

¹⁵ to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly^[a] of all the deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”

³⁹ But we are not among those who shrink back and so are lost but among those who have faith and so preserve our souls.^(B)

¹² So if you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall.

⁷ But by the same word the present heavens and earth have been reserved for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the godless.^(A)

The Guilt of Humankind

¹⁸ For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and injustice of those who by their injustice suppress the truth.^(A)