False Teachers and Their Destruction

2 But there were also false prophets^(A) among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you.^(B) They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord^(C) who bought them^(D)—bringing swift destruction on themselves. ² Many will follow their depraved conduct^(E) and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. ³ In their greed^(F) these teachers will exploit you^(G) with fabricated stories. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.

³ While people are saying, “Peace and safety,”^(A) destruction will come on them suddenly,^(B) as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.^(C)

¹⁴ When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel,^(A) I said to Cephas^(B) in front of them all, “You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew.^(C) How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?^(D)