Book of Common Prayer

False prophets

2 There were, however, false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among yourselves, who will sneak in with their destructive false teachings, even denying the master who paid the price for them. They will earn swift destruction for themselves, ² and many will follow after their disgusting practices. The way of truth will be blasphemed because of them, ³ and in their greed they will exploit you with fake prophecies. For a long time now, their condemnation has not been idle, and their destruction has not fallen asleep.

⁴ God didn’t spare the angels who sinned, you see, but he threw them into the pit, into dark caverns, handing them over to be guarded until the time of judgment. ⁵ Similarly, he didn’t spare the ancient world, but brought a flood on the world of the ungodly and rescued Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others. ⁶ Similarly, he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, reducing them to ashes and ruin, thus setting up an example of what would happen to the ungodly. ⁷ He snatched righteous Lot out of the disaster, a man who had been deeply troubled by their shameful and unprincipled behavior. ⁸ That righteous man, you see, living in their midst, could see and hear day after day lawless deeds which tortured his righteous soul. ⁹ The Lord knows how to rescue the godly from testing, and also how to keep the unrighteous ready for the day of judgment and punishment, ^10a especially those who follow after the pollution of fleshly lust and despise authority.

From bad to worse

^10b Such people are arrogant and self-willed! They are not afraid to blaspheme the glorious ones,

The preaching of John the Baptist

1 This is where the good news starts—the good news of Jesus the Messiah, God’s son.

² Isaiah the prophet put it like this (“Look! I am sending my messenger ahead of me; he will clear the way for you!”):

³ “A shout goes up in the desert: Make way for the Lord! Clear a straight path for him!”

⁴ John the Baptizer appeared in the desert. He was announcing a baptism of repentance, to forgive sins. ⁵ The whole of Judaea, and everyone who lived in Jerusalem, went out to him; they confessed their sins and were baptized by him in the river Jordan. ⁶ John wore camel-hair clothes, with a leather belt round his waist. He used to eat locusts and wild honey.

⁷ “Someone a lot stronger than me is coming close behind,” John used to tell them. “I don’t deserve to squat down and undo his sandals. ⁸ I’ve plunged you in the water; he’s going to plunge you in the holy spirit.”