¹⁴ having eyes full of ^[a]adultery and that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls. ^(A)They have a heart trained in covetous practices, and are accursed children. ¹⁵ They have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of ^(B)Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; ¹⁶ but he was rebuked for his iniquity: a dumb donkey speaking with a man’s voice restrained the madness of the prophet.

³ By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction ^[a]does not slumber.

Rich Oppressors Will Be Judged

5 Come now, you ^(A)rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you! ² Your ^(B)riches ^[a]are corrupted, and ^(C)your garments are moth-eaten. ³ Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. ^(D)You have heaped up treasure in the last days. ⁴ Indeed ^(E)the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and ^(F)the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of ^[b]Sabaoth.

³ not ^[a]given to wine, not violent, ^[b]not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not ^[c]covetous;

¹⁹ saying, “Give me this power also, that anyone on whom I lay hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”

²⁰ But Peter said to him, “Your money perish with you, because ^(A)you thought that ^(B)the gift of God could be purchased with money!