Depravity of False Teachers

¹² But these, ^(A)like natural brute beasts made to be caught and destroyed, speak evil of the things they do not understand, and will utterly perish in their own corruption, ^13 (B)and will receive the wages of unrighteousness, as those who count it pleasure ^(C)to ^[a]carouse in the daytime. ^(D)They are spots and blemishes, ^[b]carousing in their own deceptions while ^(E)they feast with you, ¹⁴ having eyes full of ^[c]adultery and that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls. ^(F)They have a heart trained in covetous practices, and are accursed children. ¹⁵ They have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of ^(G)Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; ¹⁶ but he was rebuked for his iniquity: a dumb donkey speaking with a man’s voice restrained the madness of the prophet.

^17 (H)These are wells without water, ^[d]clouds carried by a tempest, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness ^[e]forever.

Deceptions of False Teachers

¹⁸ For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who ^[f]have actually escaped from those who live in error. ¹⁹ While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of ^[g]corruption; ^(I)for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into ^[h]bondage. ²⁰ For if, after they ^(J)have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are ^(K)again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. ²¹ For ^(L)it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. ²² But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: ^(M)“A dog returns to his own vomit,” and, “a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire.”