2 Peter 2:4-3:3

New King James Version

Doom of False Teachers

⁴ For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to ^[a]hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment; ⁵ and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly; ⁶ and turning the cities of ^(A)Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly; ⁷ and ^(B)delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked ⁸ (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, ^(C)tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds)— ⁹ then ^(D)the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment, ¹⁰ and especially ^(E)those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority. ^(F)They are presumptuous, self-willed. They are not afraid to speak evil of ^[b]dignitaries, ¹¹ whereas ^(G)angels, who are greater in power and might, do not bring a reviling accusation against them before the Lord.

Depravity of False Teachers

¹² But these, ^(H)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 (I)and will receive the wages of unrighteousness, as those who count it pleasure ^(J)to ^[c]carouse in the daytime. ^(K)They are spots and blemishes, ^[d]carousing in their own deceptions while ^(L)they feast with you, ¹⁴ having eyes full of ^[e]adultery and that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls. ^(M)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 ^(N)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 (O)These are wells without water, ^[f]clouds carried by a tempest, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness ^[g]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 ^[h]have actually escaped from those who live in error. ¹⁹ While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of ^[i]corruption; ^(P)for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into ^[j]bondage. ²⁰ For if, after they ^(Q)have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are ^(R)again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. ²¹ For ^(S)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: ^(T)“A dog returns to his own vomit,” and, “a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire.”

God’s Promise Is Not Slack^(U)

3 Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle (in both of which ^(V)I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder), ² that you may be mindful of the words ^(W)which were spoken before by the holy prophets, ^(X)and of the commandment of ^[k]us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior, ³ knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, ^(Y)walking according to their own lusts,