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 there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.
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).
And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.
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]!
And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.
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 if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto 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].
And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;
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).
And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly;
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.
And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked:
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.
( For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds; )
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.
The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:
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]).
But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are they, selfwilled, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities.
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].
Whereas angels, which are greater in power and might, bring not railing accusation against 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}.
But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;
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].
And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast 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].
Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children:
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].
Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;
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 was rebuked for his iniquity: the dumb donkey speaking with man’s voice forbad the madness of the prophet.
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)
These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever. (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.
For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them 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.”
While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.
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].
For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.
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}.
For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.
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.
But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.
