The Rise of False Prophets

2 But ^(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. ² Many will follow their ^(I)sensuality, and because of them ^(J)the way of the truth will be ^(K)maligned; ³ and 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.

⁴ For ^(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; ⁵ and did not spare ^(R)the ancient world, but preserved ^(S)Noah, a ^[a]preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a ^(T)flood upon the world of the ungodly; ⁶ and 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; ⁷ and 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 ^[b]temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the ^(AC)day of judgment, ¹⁰ and especially those who ^[c](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 ^[d]majesties, ^11 (AH)whereas angels who are greater in might and power do not bring a reviling judgment against them before the Lord. ¹² But ^(AI)these, like unreasoning animals, ^(AJ)born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, reviling where they have no knowledge, will in ^[e]the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed, ¹³ suffering 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 ^[f]deceptions, as they ^(AO)carouse with you, ¹⁴ having eyes full of adultery that never cease from sin, ^(AP)enticing ^(AQ)unstable souls, having a heart trained in ^(AR)greed, ^(AS)accursed children; ¹⁵ forsaking ^(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; ¹⁶ but 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.

¹⁷ These are ^(AX)springs without water and mists driven by a storm, ^(AY)for whom the ^[g]black darkness has been reserved. ¹⁸ For 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, ¹⁹ promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for ^(BE)by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved. ²⁰ For 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. ^22 [h]It 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.”