1 B ut 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.

But there were false teachers among the people. And there will be false teachers among you also. These people will work in secret ways to bring false teaching to you. They will turn against Christ Who bought them with His blood. They bring fast death on themselves.

2 A nd many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.

Many people will follow their wrong ways. Because of what they do, people will speak bad things against the way of truth.

3 A nd 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.

They will tell lies and false stories so they can use you to get things for themselves. But God judged them long ago and their death is on the way.

4 F or 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;

God did not hold back from punishing the angels who sinned, but sent them down to hell. They are to be kept there in the deep hole of darkness until they stand before Him Who judges them.

5 a nd 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;

God did not hold back from punishing the people of the world who sinned long ago. He brought the flood on the world of sinners. But Noah was a preacher of right living. He and his family of seven were the only ones God saved.

6 a nd 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;

God said that the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were guilty, and He destroyed them with fire. This was to show people who did not worship God what would happen to them.

7 a nd delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked:

Lot was taken away from Sodom because he was right with God. He had been troubled by the sins that bad men did in wild living.

8 ( for that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;)

He saw and heard how the people around him broke the Law. Everyday his own soul which was right with God was troubled because of their sinful ways.

9 t he Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:

But the Lord knows how to help men who are right with God when they are tempted. He also knows how to keep the sinners suffering for their wrong-doing until the day they stand before God Who will judge them.

10 b ut 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.

This is true about those who keep on wanting to please their own bodies in sinful desires and those who will not obey laws. They want to please themselves and are not afraid when they laugh and say bad things about the powers in heaven.

11 W hereas angels, which are greater in power and might, bring not railing accusation against them before the Lord.

Angels are greater in strength and power than they. But angels do not speak against these powers before the Lord.

12 B ut 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;

Men like this are like animals who are not able to think but are born to be caught and killed. They speak bad words against that which they do not understand. They will die in their own sinful ways.

13 a nd 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;

This is the pay they will suffer for their sinful lives. They are not ashamed when they sin in the daylight. They are sores and dirty spots among you while they eat and drink big meals with you.

14 h aving eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children:

Their eyes are full of sex sins. They never have enough sin. They get weak people to go along with them. Their hearts are always wanting something. They are people who will end up in hell because

15 w hich have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;

they have left the right way and have gone the wrong way. They have followed the way of Balaam, who was the son of Beor. He loved the money he got for his sin.

16 b ut was rebuked for his iniquity: the dumb ass speaking with man’s voice forbad the madness of the prophet.

But he was stopped in his sin. A donkey spoke to him with a man’s voice. It stopped this early preacher from going on in his crazy way.

17 T hese are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever.

Such people are like wells without water. They are like clouds before a storm. The darkest place below has been kept for them.

18 F or 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.

They speak big-sounding words which show they are proud. They get men who are trying to keep away from sinful men to give in to the sinful desires of the flesh.

19 W hile 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.

They promise that these men will be free. But they themselves are chained to sin. For a man is chained to anything that has power over him.

20 F or 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.

There are men who have been made free from the sins of the world by learning to know the Lord Jesus Christ, the One Who saves. But if they do these sins again, and are not able to keep from doing them, they are worse than they were before.

21 F or 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.

After knowing the holy Law that was given to them, they turned from it. It would have been better for them if they had not known how to be right with God.

22 B ut 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.

They are like the wise saying, “A dog turns back to what he has thrown up.” And, “A pig that has been washed goes back to roll in the mud.”