False Prophets and Teachers

2 But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies. They will even deny the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. 2 Many will follow their [fn]sensual ways, and because of [fn]them the way of the truth will be maligned. 3 In their greed they will exploit you with deceptive words. Their condemnation from of old is not idle, and their destruction [fn]will not slumber.

4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them down to Tartarus and committed them to [fn]chains of darkness to be kept for judgment; 5 and if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, along with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; 6 and if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah [fn]to destruction by reducing them to ashes and made them an example [fn]to those who would live in an ungodly way; 7 and if he rescued righteous Lot, who was distressed by the sensual conduct of the lawless 8 (for as [fn]that righteous man dwelt among them, his righteous soul was tormented day after day over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard); 9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and how to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, 10 especially those who indulge the corrupt desires of the flesh and who despise authority.

Bold and self-willed, they do not tremble when they blaspheme glorious beings, 11 whereas angels, who are greater in strength and power, do not bring a blasphemous judgment against them [fn]before the Lord. 12 But these men blaspheme in matters they do not understand. They are like irrational beasts, creatures of instinct born for capture and destruction, and in the destruction of those beasts [fn]they will be destroyed, 13 [fn]receiving the wages of unrighteousness. Counting indulgence in the daytime as pleasure, they are stains and blemishes, openly indulging in their deceptions as they feast with you. 14 They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unstable souls. They are accursed children with hearts trained in [fn]greed. 15 They have abandoned the straight path and gone astray, following the way of Balaam, the son of [fn]Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness. 16 But he received a rebuke for his own transgression; a speechless donkey spoke with a human voice and prevented the prophet's madness.

17 These men are springs without [fn]water, clouds driven by a storm, for whom the thick gloom of darkness has been reserved forever. 18 For they speak bombastic words of nonsense, and with sensual desires of the flesh they entice people who [fn]have [fn]truly escaped from others who live in error. 19 They promise them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption. For a man is a slave to whatever masters him. 20 For if after they have escaped from the defilements of the world through the knowledge of [fn]the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in these defilements and overcome, the last state is worse for them than the first. 21 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 commandment that was passed on to them. 22 What the true proverb says has happened to them: “A dog returns to its own vomit,” and, “A sow, after washing herself, returns to wallowing in the mire.”