2 Peter 2:1-10

Christian Standard Bible

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;