⁴ For if God did not spare angels when they sinned,^(A) but sent them to hell,^[a] putting them in chains of darkness^[b] to be held for judgment;^{(B) 5} if he did not spare the ancient world^(C) when he brought the flood on its ungodly people,^(D) but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others;^{(E) 6} if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes,^(F) and made them an example^(G) of what is going to happen to the ungodly;^{(H) 7} and if he rescued Lot,^(I) a righteous man, who was distressed by the depraved conduct of the lawless^{(J) 8} (for that righteous man,^(K) living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)— ⁹ if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials^(L) and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment.^(M)