2 Peter 2:3-20

English Standard Version

³ And ^(A)in their greed they will exploit you ^(B)with false words. ^(C)Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.

⁴ For if God did not spare ^(D)angels when they sinned, but ^(E)cast them into hell^[a] and committed them to chains^[b] of gloomy darkness ^(F)to be kept until the judgment; ⁵ if he did not spare the ancient world, but ^(G)preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought ^(H)a flood upon the world of the ungodly; ⁶ if by ^(I)turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, ^(J)making them an example of ^(K)what is going to happen to the ungodly;^{[c] 7} and ^(L)if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked ⁸ (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, ^(M)he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard); ⁹ then ^(N)the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials,^[d] and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, ¹⁰ and especially ^(O)those who indulge^[e] in the lust of defiling passion and ^(P)despise authority.

Bold and willful, they do not tremble ^(Q)as they blaspheme the glorious ones, ^11 (R)whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a blasphemous judgment against them before the Lord. ^12 (S)But these, like irrational animals, ^(T)creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their destruction, ¹³ suffering wrong as ^(U)the wage for their wrongdoing. They count it pleasure ^(V)to revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions,^[f] while ^(W)they feast with you. ¹⁴ They have eyes full of adultery,^{[g] (X)}insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts ^(Y)trained in greed. ^(Z)Accursed children! ¹⁵ Forsaking the right way, ^(AA)they have gone astray. They have followed ^(AB)the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved ^(AC)gain from wrongdoing, ¹⁶ but was rebuked for his own transgression; ^(AD)a speechless donkey spoke with human voice and restrained the prophet's madness.

^17 (AE)These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm. ^(AF)For them the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved. ¹⁸ For, ^(AG)speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely ^(AH)escaping from those who live in error. ¹⁹ They promise them ^(AI)freedom, ^(AJ)but they themselves are slaves^[h] of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved. ²⁰ For if, ^(AK)after they have escaped the defilements of the world ^(AL)through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, ^(AM)the last state has become worse for them than the first.