2 Peter 2
1 But just as there were false prophets among the people then, there will be false teachers among you. They subtly introduce false and destructive teachings, even denying the Lord who redeemed them, quickly bringing 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 their immoral perversions, and because of them people will condemn the way of truth.
Then there will be many who will follow their immorality, because of whom the Way of the Truth will be maligned.
3 They will greedily exploit you with false tales. However, they are already condemned: their sentence has been hanging over them for a long time, their destruction won't be postponed.
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 God didn't even spare the angels when they sinned. He threw them into Tartarus, holding them in dark pits ready 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 God didn't spare the ancient world either, but he protected Noah who told people about the God who did right. He was one of the eight who were saved when God sent a flood upon a world of evil people.
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 God condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to total destruction, burning them to ash, as an example of what will happen to those who live evil lives.
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 But God rescued Lot because he was a good man, sickened by the disgusting immorality of his neighbors.
and he delivered righteous Lot who was worn out by the lascivious life of the wicked
8 (Lot lived among them, but he did what was good and right. He saw and heard what they did day after day, and their wickedness tormented him.)
(for that righteous man, living among them, tormented his righteous soul in seeing and hearing, day after day, their lawless deeds),
9 As you can see, the Lord is able to rescue from their troubles those who respect him, and to keep the wicked until the day of judgment when their punishment is completed.
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 This is especially so for those who follow their corrupt human desires, and contemptuously disregard authority. Arrogant and proud, they're not even afraid to defame heavenly 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 Angels, on the other hand, even though they are stronger and more powerful, don't disparage 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 people are like mindless beasts, produced like farm animals to be captured and slaughtered. They condemn things they don't know anything about, and just like animals they 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 They will be paid back in harm for the harm they have done. Their idea of fun is to commit their evil lusts in broad daylight. They are stains and blemishes on your community. They enjoy their deceptive pleasures even while they eat together 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 They're always on the lookout for adulterous relationships—they just can't stop sinning. They seduce the vulnerable; they have trained themselves in greed; they are offspring under a curse.
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 abandoned the right path and went astray, following the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved to be paid for doing evil.
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 told off for his evil actions—a dumb donkey spoke with a human voice and stopped the prophet's foolishness!
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 People like these are springs without water, mists blown away by the wind. They are destined for blackest darkness—forever. (questioned)
Such men are like waterless springs, or mists storm-driven; for them the blackness of darkness has been reserved.
18 Inflated with their own nonsense, they appeal to sensual desires, luring back into immorality those who have only just escaped from those 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, even though they themselves are slaves to depravity. “You are a slave to whatever conquers you.”
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 people manage to escape from the evil influence of the world by knowing the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and then get tangled up in sin again and are defeated, they are worse off than they were in the first place.
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 not to have known the right way of truth, than to have known it and then turn away from the sacred instructions they'd been given.
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 This proverb has come true for them: “The dog has returned to its own vomit, and the washed pig has gone back to rolling 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.
