2 Peter 2
1 Just like there were false prophets among the [Israeli] people [long ago], so there will also be teachers who teach false [things] among you. They will enter [your congregations] without you realizing [what/who they are], and they will [spiritually] injure some people by what they teach. Specifically, these teachers will even deny [that] the Lord [Jesus died to] pay [for the guilt of our sins]. As a result, they will soon destroy themselves [spiritually, and God will also punish them].
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.
2 And many [people] will behave in an extremely immoral manner, imitating the extremely immoral way [these teachers who teach false things] behave. As a result, [unbelievers] will (discredit the true message/say the true message is false).
Many will follow their immoral perversions, and because of them people will condemn the way of truth.
3 Because [the teachers of false teaching] want a lot of things that other people have, [they think that] by telling you stories that they themselves have (made up/invented), they will get money from you. [God decided] long ago [that he would] punish them, and he has not fallen asleep [LIT]! [He will certainly destroy them]!
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.
4 God destroyed [LIT] the angels who sinned. He threw them into the worst place in hell and imprisoned them [there] in darkness in order to keep them there until he judges [and punishes them]. (Tartaroō g5020)
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)
5 He also got rid of [LIT] [the people who lived in] [MTY] the world long ago. He saved [only] eight of them, including Noah, who was a righteous preacher. God saved them when he destroyed in a flood [all] (the ungodly people/the people whose lives were not pleasing to him) [who were living then].
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.
6 He also condemned Sodom and Gomorrah [cities]; that is, he destroyed them by burning them completely to ashes. [By doing that] he gave a warning to those who afterwards would live in (an ungodly way/a way that is displeasing to him).
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.
7 But he rescued [Abraham’s nephew], Lot, who was a righteous [man. Lot] was (greatly distressed/very sad) because the people [in Sodom] were doing very immoral things.
But God rescued Lot because he was a good man, sickened by the disgusting immorality of his neighbors.
8 That righteous [man’s] soul (was tormented/suffered great agony) day after day because he saw and heard those wicked people behave in a very lawless/wicked [manner when he was] living among them.
(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.)
9 And since the Lord God [rescued Lot, you can be sure that] he knows how to rescue (other godly people/people whose lives please him) from their sufferings, and [he is able] to preserve (ungodly [people/people whose lives do not please him]), [whom he has started to] punish even now, until the time when he will [finish judging them and punish] them.
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.
10 [He will punish especially severely] those [ungodly teachers who teach false things] who do the things that their self-directed nature desires, things that (defile them/cause them to be completely impure). Those [teachers of false teachings] despise [all beings who] rule [over them]. 2 Peter 2:10d-16 Because [those teachers of false doctrines are] extremely arrogant/proud [DOU], they (are not afraid to insult/boldly speak evil about) glorious beings [in heaven] (OR, glorious/wonderful beings [who rule over people]).
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.
11 In contrast, angels do not insult [those teachers] when those teachers accuse the angels [of blasphemy] while the Lord God is watching, even though the angels are much more powerful [DOU] [than the teachers of false doctrines].
Angels, on the other hand, even though they are stronger and more powerful, don't disparage them before the Lord.
12 Because those [teachers of false doctrines are] like animals that cannot think [as humans do] [DOU], they say evil things about [spiritual] things which they know nothing about. [As a result], God will destroy them like [people] destroy [animals], [animals] that are born only in order to be hunted and killed {in order that [people] should hunt and kill them}.
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.
13 God will punish [those teachers] in return for the unrighteous actions/things that they have done. They even like (to carouse/to drink and revel noisily) in the daytime [as well as at night]. And as they indulge/enjoy themselves just like they want to while they are feasting with you, they cause you to become impure, [as] [MET] stains and blotches [DOU] [ruin a clean garment].
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.
14 They [want to commit] [MTY] adultery [with every woman] whom they look at. They never stop seeking opportunities to sin. They entice/persuade those who are [spiritually] unstable [to join them in doing the sinful things that they do]. [Because of] their ever-increasing (greed/desire to have more and more things), they are doomed [to eternal punishment].
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.
15 They have (rejected good moral standards/quit doing what everyone knows is right). They have imitated [what the prophet] Balaam, the son of Bosor, [did long ago]. He, [acting very] unrighteously, wanted [the enemies of the Jews] to pay him if he [asked God] ([to curse/to do bad thing to]) [the Jews].
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.
16 But God rebuked him for having done that which was wrong [and for] behaving very foolishly. And even though donkeys do not speak, [God used] a donkey to hinder Balaam [by enabling it to] speak to him with a human voice.
But he was told off for his evil actions—a dumb donkey spoke with a human voice and stopped the prophet's foolishness!
17 These [teachers who each false things mislead/deceive people by promising what they cannot do], as [MET] dried-up springs [mislead/deceive people by causing them to expect to get water from them]. They [mislead/deceive people] [MET] just like clouds that are blown along by strong winds [mislead/deceive people by causing them to expect rain, but no rain falls. Therefore], God has reserved the darkness of hell [for those teachers of false doctrines]. (questioned)
People like these are springs without water, mists blown away by the wind. They are destined for blackest darkness—forever. (questioned)
18 By boasting proudly as they make speeches that are worthless, they entice people who have recently [become believers and] have stopped doing the things that wicked people do. Urged on by their self-directed nature, they entice them [into sin] by encouraging them to [do] evil things.
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.
19 [The false teachers] tell people that they are free [to do whatever they want to do, even though] they themselves are [like] slaves [MET] [because their own self-directed nature forces them to do] sinful things. [Think about these well-known words: “Whenever a person is controlled by something] {[something controls a person]}, [it is as though] that person has become a slave of what controls him.”
They promise them freedom, even though they themselves are slaves to depravity. “You are a slave to whatever conquers you.”
20 Those [who teach false truths] learned about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. As a result, they stopped doing those things that (defile [people/cause people to become impure]) [spiritually]. Since they have begun to do [those evil things again], with the result that they are unable to stop doing them, they are in a worse condition than [they were in before they knew Jesus Christ].
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.
21 [Because God will severely punish them], it would have been better for them if they had never known what it means to live in a righteous way. It is too bad that although they knew [how to live in a righteous way], they stopped doing the things that God commanded people to do, the things that [were] taught to them ([by us apostles/by Christ]) {that ([we apostles/Christ]) taught to them}.
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.
22 [The way they are behaving again] is just like (the proverbs/what people often say): [They are like] dogs that return to [eat] their vomit, and [they are like] pigs that have been washed and then roll [again] in the mud.
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.”
