< 2 Peter 2 >
1 But there were indeed false prophets among the people of old, as there will be also among you false teachers, who will privately introduce pernicious heresies, denying even the Lord that bought them, and bringing upon themselves swift destruction,
2 And many will follow their pernicious tenets, on whose account the way of truth will be reproached:
3 and by artful speeches they will make sale of you for gain. Whose judgement is long since hastening, and their destruction doth not slumber.
4 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 judgement; and if He spared not the old world, (Tartaroō )
5 (but preserved Noah an eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, ) bringing a deluge upon the world of the ungodly;
6 and reducing the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha to ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those that should afterwards be impious;
7 and delivered righteous Lot grieved at the lewd conversation of the wicked:
8 (for that good man by seeing and hearing their crimes, when he dwelt among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day with their
9 iniquitous deeds) then the Lord knoweth how to deliver the pious from temptation, and to reserve the wicked to the day of judgement to be punished:
10 especially those who walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise authority; who, being audacious and self-willed, are not afraid to speak evil of dignities:
11 whereas angels, who are greater in strength and power, bring not a reviling accusation against them before the Lord.
12 But these men, like brute beasts naturally produced to be taken and destroyed, speaking evil of things which they do not understand, shall perish by their own corruption; receiving the reward of their unrighteousness:
13 who account it a pleasure to riot even in the day; spots and disgraces; revelling in their frauds, while they partake of your feasts:
14 having eyes full of adultery, and which cannot be restrained from sin: ensnaring unstable souls, and having a heart practised in rapine; cursed people:
15 who have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, having followed the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of iniquity;
16 but was reproved for his transgression: for a dumb beast speaking with the voice of a man checked the madness of the prophet.
17 These are wells without water, clouds driven by a storm, for whom thick darkness is reserved for ever. ()
18 For when they speak swelling words of vanity, they ensnare in the lusts of the flesh, through their lasciviousness, those who had indeed withdrawn from such as deal in error;
19 promising them liberty, while they themselves are the slaves of corruption: for by whom any one is vanquished, by him he is also enslaved.
20 For if, after they had escaped the pollutions of the world, through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled and vanquished by them, their last state is worse than the first;
21 for it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than when they knew it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them.
22 But it is happened to them according to the true proverb, The dog is returned to his own vomit, and, The swine that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.
