Apostates: Past and Present

⁵ Now I want to remind you, although you came to know all these things once and for all, that Jesus^[a] saved a people out of Egypt and later destroyed those who did not believe;^{(A) 6} and the angels^(B) who did not keep their own position but abandoned their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains in deep darkness for the judgment on the great day. ⁷ Likewise, Sodom and Gomorrah^(C) and the surrounding towns committed sexual immorality and perversions,^[b] and serve as an example by undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.^(D)

⁸ In the same way these people—relying on their dreams—defile their flesh, reject authority, and slander glorious ones.^{(E) 9} Yet when Michael^(F) the archangel^(G) was disputing with the devil^(H) in an argument about Moses’s^(I) body, he did not dare utter a slanderous condemnation against him but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” ¹⁰ But these people blaspheme anything they do not understand. And what they do understand by instinct—like irrational animals—by these things they are destroyed. ¹¹ Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain,^(J) have plunged into Balaam’s error^(K) for profit, and have perished in Korah’s rebellion.^(L)

The Apostates’ Doom

¹² These people are dangerous reefs^[c] at your love feasts^(M) as they eat with you without reverence. They are shepherds who only look after themselves. They are waterless clouds carried along by winds;^(N) trees in late autumn—fruitless, twice dead and uprooted. ¹³ They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shameful deeds; wandering stars^(O) for whom the blackness of darkness^(P) is reserved forever.^(Q)

¹⁴ It was about these that Enoch,^(R) in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied: “Look! The Lord comes with tens of thousands of his holy ones^{(S) 15} to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly^(T) concerning all the ungodly acts that they have done in an ungodly way, and concerning all the harsh things ungodly sinners have said against him.” ¹⁶ These people are discontented grumblers, living according to their desires;^(U) their mouths utter arrogant words, flattering^(V) people for their own advantage.

¹⁷ But you, dear friends, remember what was predicted by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. ¹⁸ They told you, “In the end time^(W) there will be scoffers^(X) living according to their own ungodly desires.” ¹⁹ These people create divisions and are worldly,^(Y) not having the Spirit.