2 Peter 2
1 Now there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves.
But there were false prophets, too, among the people, just as among you also there will be false teachers. These will secretly bring in destructive sects, denying even the Master who bought them, and bringing swift ruin upon themselves.
2 Many will follow in their depravity, and because of them the way of truth will be defamed.
Then there will be many who will follow their immorality, because of whom the Way of the Truth will be maligned.
3 In their greed, these false teachers will exploit you with deceptive words. The longstanding verdict against them remains in force, and their destruction does not sleep.
In their covetousness, with cunning words, they will make merchandise of you; those whose doom has not been idle from of old, and whose destruction has not been slumbering.
4 For if God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but cast them deep into hell, placing them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment; (Tartaroō g5020)
For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them down to Tartarus, and committed them to chains of darkness, and reserved them for judgment; (Tartaroō g5020)
5 if He did not spare the ancient world when He brought the flood on its ungodly people, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, among the eight;
if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon an ungodly world;
6 if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction, reducing them to ashes as an example of what is coming on the ungodly;
if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and reduced them to ashes, thus holding them up as a warning to all who would live ungodly;
7 and if He rescued Lot, a righteous man distressed by the depraved conduct of the lawless
and he delivered righteous Lot who was worn out by the lascivious life of the wicked
8 (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)—
(for that righteous man, living among them, tormented his righteous soul in seeing and hearing, day after day, their lawless deeds),
9 if all this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment.
then be sure that the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation, and to keep the wicked (who are even now enduring punishment) for the "Day of Judgment";
10 Such punishment is specially reserved for those who indulge the corrupt desires of the flesh and despise authority. Bold and self-willed, they are unafraid to slander glorious beings.
especially those who spend their lives following the flesh in the lust of defilement, and in despising all authority. Audacious and wilful, they feel no awe in railing against dignities;
11 Yet not even angels, though greater in strength and power, dare to bring such slanderous charges against them before the Lord.
even where angels, though surpassing them in strength and might, do not bring a railing judgment against them before the Lord.
12 These men are like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be captured and destroyed. They blaspheme in matters they do not understand, and like such creatures, they too will be destroyed.
But these men, like irrational creatures, mere animals, born to be taken and destroyed, continually rail about matters of which they know nothing. In their corruption they will surely be destroyed,
13 The harm they will suffer is the wages of their wickedness. They consider it a pleasure to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deception as they feast with you.
suffering wrong as the wage of wrong which they have done. These are men who count it pleasure to carouse in open daylight; they are spots and blemishes reveling in their deceit, even while they are feasting with you.
14 Their eyes are full of adultery; their desire for sin is never satisfied; they seduce the unstable. They are accursed children with hearts trained in greed.
They have eyes full of harlots, eyes that cannot stop sinning. They entice unsteady souls. Their heart is trained in greed. They are an accursed generation.
15 They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Beor, who loved the wages of wickedness.
They have forsaken the right way; they have lost their way, and followed the road of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the wages of wrong-doing.
16 But he was rebuked for his transgression by a donkey, otherwise without speech, that spoke with a man’s voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.
He was, however, rebuked for his own transgression; a dumb ass spoke with a man’s voice, and stopped the madness of the prophet.
17 These men are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them.
Such men are like waterless springs, or mists storm-driven; for them the blackness of darkness has been reserved.
18 With lofty but empty words, they appeal to the sensual passions of the flesh and entice those who are just escaping from others who live in error.
For speaking great swelling words of vanity, they entangle, by their lasciviousness, in the lusts of the flesh, those who are just about to escape from the men that live in misconduct.
19 They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves to depravity. For a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him.
They promise them liberty, while they themselves are slaves of rottenness! (For indeed a man is the slave of anything which masters him.)
20 If indeed they have escaped the corruption of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, only to be entangled and overcome by it again, their final condition is worse than it was at first.
For if, after having escaped the pollutions of the world, through the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, men are again entangled in them and overpowered, their last state is become worse than their first.
21 It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than to have known it and then to turn away from the holy commandment passed on to them.
Indeed it would have been better for them not to have known the Way of Righteousness, than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy command delivered to them.
22 Of them the proverbs are true: “A dog returns to its vomit,” and, “A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud.”
In their case it has happened according to the true proverb, The dog returns again to his own vomit, and The sow, after washing, to her wallowing in the mire.
