¹¹ But its swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they are to be left for salt.

²³ all its soil burned out by sulfur and salt, nothing planted, nothing sprouting, unable to support any vegetation, like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the Lord destroyed in his fierce anger^(A)—

¹¹ Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy.”^(A)

⁸ But as for the cowardly, the faithless,^[a] the polluted, the murderers, the sexually immoral,^[b] the sorcerers, the idolaters, and all liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”^(A)

¹⁹ They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption, for people are slaves to whatever masters them.^{(A) 20} For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of the^[a] Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overpowered, the last state has become worse for them than the first.^{(B) 21} For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy commandment that was handed on to them.^{(C) 22} It has happened to them according to the true proverb,

and,

²⁶ For if we willfully persist in sin after having received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins^{(A) 27} but a fearful prospect of judgment and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.^{(B) 28} Anyone who has violated the law of Moses dies without mercy “on the testimony of two or three witnesses.”^{(C) 29} How much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by those who have spurned the Son of God, profaned the blood of the covenant by which they were sanctified, and outraged the Spirit of grace?^{(D) 30} For we know the one who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.”^[a] And again, “The Lord will judge his people.”^{(E) 31} It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

⁴ For it is impossible to restore again to repentance those who have once been enlightened and have tasted the heavenly gift and have shared in the Holy Spirit^{(A) 5} and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come^{(B) 6} and then have fallen away, since they are crucifying again the Son of God to their own harm and are holding him up to contempt.^{(C) 7} Ground that drinks up the rain falling on it repeatedly and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is cultivated receives a blessing from God.^{(D) 8} But if it produces thorns and thistles, it is worthless and on the verge of being cursed; its end is to be burned over.^(E)

⁴⁸ where their worm never dies and the fire is never quenched.^(A)

⁴⁹ “For everyone will be salted with fire.^[a](B)