^12 (A)One of them, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.”

¹⁸ For those who are such do not serve our Lord ^[a]Jesus Christ, but ^(A)their own belly, and ^(B)by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple.

^2 (A)speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience ^(B)seared with a hot iron,

²⁸ for ^(A)in Him we live and move and have our being, ^(B)as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’

¹⁵ They have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of ^(A)Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;

^8 (A)Likewise also these dreamers defile the flesh, reject authority, and ^(B)speak evil of ^[a]dignitaries. ⁹ Yet Michael the archangel, in ^[b]contending with the devil, when he disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a reviling accusation, but said, ^(C)“The Lord rebuke you!” ^10 (D)But these speak evil of whatever they do not know; and whatever they know naturally, like brute beasts, in these things they corrupt themselves. ¹¹ Woe to them! For they have gone in the way ^(E)of Cain, ^(F)have run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit, and perished ^(G)in the rebellion of Korah.

Apostates Depraved and Doomed

¹² These are ^[c]spots in your love feasts, while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried ^[d]about by the winds; late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots; ^13 (H)raging waves of the sea, ^(I)foaming up their own shame; wandering stars ^(J)for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.

Depravity of False Teachers

¹² But these, ^(A)like natural brute beasts made to be caught and destroyed, speak evil of the things they do not understand, and will utterly perish in their own corruption,

¹¹ Cretans and ^[a]Arabs—we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.”