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)

¹⁷ I urge you, brothers and sisters, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned.^(A) Keep away from them.^{(B) 18} For such people are not serving our Lord Christ,^(C) but their own appetites.^(D) By smooth talk and flattery they deceive^(E) the minds of naive people.