¹⁸ For such people do not serve our Lord Christ but their own appetites,^[a] and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the simple-minded.^(A)

⁴ I am saying this so that no one may deceive you with plausible arguments.

¹⁹ Their end is destruction, their god is the belly, and their glory is in their shame; their minds are set on earthly things.^(A)

A Tree and Its Fruit

¹⁵ “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.^(A)

⁵ and wrangling among those who are depraved in mind and bereft of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain.^[a](A)

³ And in their greed they will exploit you with deceptive words. Their condemnation, pronounced against them long ago, has not been idle, and their destruction is not asleep.^(A)

² For people will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,^{(A) 3} unfeeling, implacable, slanderers, profligates, brutes, haters of good,^{(B) 4} treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,^{(C) 5} holding to the outward form of godliness but denying its power. Avoid them! ⁶ For among them are those who make their way into households and captivate immature women, overwhelmed by their sins and swayed by all kinds of desires,^(D)

¹⁶ These are grumblers and malcontents; they indulge their lusts;^[a] their mouths utter bombastic nonsense, flattering people to their own advantage.^(A)

¹⁸ For they speak bombastic nonsense, and with debased^[a] desires of the flesh they entice people who have just^[b] escaped from those who live in error. ¹⁹ They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption, for people are slaves to whatever masters them.^{(A) 20} For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of the^[c] Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overpowered, the last state has become worse for them than the first.^(B)