⁸ It is the same with these people [^Cthe false teachers; v. 4]. They are guided by dreams ·and make themselves filthy with sin [and live immoral lives/pollute their bodies; or to defile the flesh]. They ·reject [despise] ·God’s authority [^Lauthority] and ·speak against [insult; slander; blaspheme] ·the angels [celestial beings; ^Lglorious ones; 2 Pet. 2:10–11]. ⁹ Not even the archangel Michael [^Ca leader among God’s angels; Dan. 10:13, 21; 12:1; Rev. 12:7], when he ·argued [contended] with the devil ·about who would have [^Labout] the body of Moses, dared to ·judge the devil guilty [^Lbring a slanderous/blasphemous judgment]. Instead, he said, “The Lord ·punish [rebuke] you [^Cprobably a story told in the Testament of Moses, a Jewish writing of the early first century ad].” ¹⁰ But these people ·speak against [slander; blaspheme] things they do not understand [2 Pet. 2:12]. And what they do know, ·by feeling [instinctively], like ·dumb [unreasoning; irrational] animals, are the very things that destroy them. ¹¹ ·It will be terrible for them [^LWoe to them!]. They have followed the way of Cain [^Cwho murdered his brother Abel; Gen. 4], and ·for money [because of greed; ^Lfor wages] they have ·given themselves [poured themselves out] to doing the ·wrong [error] that Balaam did [Num. 22—24; 2 Pet. 2:15–16]. ·They have rebelled against God as Korah did, and like Korah, they surely will be destroyed [^LIn the rebellion of Korah, they were destroyed; Num. 16]. ¹² They are like ·dirty spots [blemishes; or dangerous hidden reefs/rocks] in your ·special Christian meals you share [fellowship meals; love feasts]. They eat with you and have no ·fear [qualms; or shame], ·caring only for themselves [or shepherds feeding themselves]. They are clouds without ·rain [^Lwater], which the wind blows around [2 Pet. 2:17]. They are autumn trees without fruit that are ·pulled out of the ground [uprooted]. So they are twice dead [^Cbecause they are both barren and uprooted; or perhaps a reference to both the physical and spiritual death of the false teachers]. ¹³ They are like wild waves of the sea, ·tossing up their own shameful actions like foam [^Lfoaming up their own shame]. They are like ·stars that wander in the sky [^Cperhaps a reference to planets, whose variable positions, unlike those of the stars, provide mariners no guidance]. A place in the ·blackest darkness [^Lgloom of darkness; v. 7] has been kept for them forever [2 Pet. 2:17].