Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses,(A) so also these teachers oppose(B) the truth. They are men of depraved minds,(C) who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected.

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20 Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel,(A) who calls herself a prophet. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols.(B)

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and constant friction between people of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth(A) and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain.

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But Elymas the sorcerer(A) (for that is what his name means) opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul(B) from the faith.(C) Then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit,(D) looked straight at Elymas and said, 10 “You are a child of the devil(E) and an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord?(F) 11 Now the hand of the Lord is against you.(G) You are going to be blind for a time, not even able to see the light of the sun.”(H)

Immediately mist and darkness came over him, and he groped about, seeking someone to lead him by the hand.

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11 Pharaoh then summoned wise men and sorcerers,(A) and the Egyptian magicians(B) also did the same things by their secret arts:(C)

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16 They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him.(A) They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.(B)

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14 Nevertheless, I have a few things against you:(A) There are some among you who hold to the teaching of Balaam,(B) who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin so that they ate food sacrificed to idols(C) and committed sexual immorality.(D) 15 Likewise, you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans.(E)

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On Denying the Incarnation

Dear friends,(A) do not believe every spirit,(B) but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.(C)

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14 With eyes full of adultery, they never stop sinning; they seduce(A) the unstable;(B) they are experts in greed(C)—an accursed brood!(D)

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15 You too should be on your guard against him, because he strongly opposed our message.

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14 Then we will no longer be infants,(A) tossed back and forth by the waves,(B) and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.(C)

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False Teachers and Their Destruction

But there were also false prophets(A) among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you.(B) They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord(C) who bought them(D)—bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their depraved conduct(E) and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. In their greed(F) these teachers will exploit you(G) with fabricated stories. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.

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Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron.(A)

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19 holding on to faith and a good conscience,(A) which some have rejected and so have suffered shipwreck with regard to the faith.(B)

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The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan(A) works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders(B) that serve the lie, 10 and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing.(C) They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.(D) 11 For this reason God sends them(E) a powerful delusion(F) so that they will believe the lie(G)

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This matter arose because some false believers(A) had infiltrated our ranks to spy on(B) the freedom(C) we have in Christ Jesus and to make us slaves. We did not give in to them for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel(D) might be preserved for you.

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13 For such people are false apostles,(A) deceitful(B) workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ.(C) 14 And no wonder, for Satan(D) himself masquerades as an angel of light. 15 It is not surprising, then, if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.(E)

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18 For such people are not serving our Lord Christ,(A) but their own appetites.(B) By smooth talk and flattery they deceive(C) the minds of naive people.

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But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans,(A) which I also hate.

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Warnings Against Denying the Son

18 Dear children, this is the last hour;(A) and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming,(B) even now many antichrists have come.(C) This is how we know it is the last hour.

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Rebuking Those Who Fail to Do Good

10 For there are many rebellious people, full of meaningless talk(A) and deception, especially those of the circumcision group.(B)

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22 “‘By what means?’ the Lord asked.

“‘I will go out and be a deceiving(A) spirit in the mouths of all his prophets,’ he said.

“‘You will succeed in enticing him,’ said the Lord. ‘Go and do it.’

23 “So now the Lord has put a deceiving(B) spirit in the mouths of all these prophets(C) of yours. The Lord has decreed disaster(D) for you.”

24 Then Zedekiah(E) son of Kenaanah went up and slapped(F) Micaiah in the face. “Which way did the spirit from[a] the Lord go when he went from me to speak(G) to you?” he asked.

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Kings 22:24 Or Spirit of

18 But when the magicians(A) tried to produce gnats by their secret arts,(B) they could not.

Since the gnats were on people and animals everywhere,

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22 But the Egyptian magicians(A) did the same things by their secret arts,(B) and Pharaoh’s heart(C) became hard; he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said.

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18 They said to you, “In the last times(A) there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.”(B) 19 These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.(C)

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