1 B ut also there arose false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among yourselves, who will subtly and stealthily introduce heretical doctrines (destructive heresies), even denying and disowning the Master Who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.

¶ But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who covertly shall bring in destructive sects and shall deny the Lord that bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.

2 A nd many will follow their immoral ways and lascivious doings; because of them the true Way will be maligned and defamed.

And many shall follow their pernicious ways, by reason of whom the way of truth shall be blasphemed;

3 A nd in their covetousness (lust, greed) they will exploit you with false (cunning) arguments. From of old the sentence for them has not been idle; their destruction (eternal misery) has not been asleep.

¶ and in covetousness they shall make merchandise of you with feigned words, upon whom the condemnation from a long time ago does not delay, and their perdition does not sleep.

4 F or God did not spare angels that sinned, but cast them into hell, delivering them to be kept there in pits of gloom till the judgment and their doom.

For if God did not forgive the angels that sinned, but cast them down into the deepest abyss and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;

5 A nd He spared not the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven other persons, when He brought a flood upon the world of ungodly.

and if he did not forgive the old world, but kept Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven other persons, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;

6 A nd He condemned to ruin and extinction the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, reducing them to ashes set them forth as an example to those who would be ungodly;

and if he condemned by destruction the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha, turning them into ashes, making them an example unto those that after should live without fear and reverence of God;

7 A nd He rescued righteous Lot, greatly worn out and distressed by the wanton ways of the ungodly and lawless—

¶ and delivered just Lot, who was persecuted by those abominable people because of their nefarious conversation;

8 F or that just man, living among them, tortured his righteous soul every day with what he saw and heard of unlawful and wicked deeds—

(for that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, afflicted his righteous soul from day to day with the deeds of those unjust people);

9 N ow if the Lord knows how to rescue the godly out of temptations and trials, and how to keep the ungodly under chastisement until the day of judgment and doom,

the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished;

10 A nd particularly those who walk after the flesh and indulge in the lust of polluting passion and scorn and despise authority. Presumptuous daring! They scoff at and revile dignitaries (glorious ones) without trembling,

¶ and chiefly those that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise dominion; presumptuous, arrogant, they are not afraid to speak evil of the higher powers;

11 W hereas angels, though superior in might and power, do not bring a defaming charge against them before the Lord.

whereas even the angels, who are greater in power and might, bring no curse of judgment against them before the Lord.

12 B ut these! Like unreasoning beasts, mere creatures of instinct, born to be captured and destroyed, railing at things of which they are ignorant, they shall utterly perish in their corruption,

But these, speaking evil of the things that they do not understand (as natural animals without reason, who are made to be taken and destroyed), shall utterly perish in their own corruption,

13 B eing destined to receive the reward of unrighteousness. They count it a delight to revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions and carousing together as they feast with you.

receiving the reward of their unrighteousness, as those that count it pleasure to live luxuriously every day. These are spots and blemishes, who eat together with you, while at the same time they revel in their deceit,

14 T hey have eyes full of harlotry, insatiable for sin. They beguile and bait and lure away unstable souls. Their hearts are trained in covetousness (lust, greed), children of a curse '> exposed to cursing]!

having their eyes full of adultery, and not knowing how to cease from sin, baiting unstable souls, having their heart exercised in covetous practices; cursed sons,

15 F orsaking the straight road they have gone astray; they have followed the way of Balaam of Beor, who loved the reward of wickedness.

who forsaking the right way have erred, having followed the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness,

16 B ut he was rebuked for his own transgression when a dumb beast of burden spoke with human voice and checked the prophet’s madness.

and was rebuked for his iniquity; a dumb animal accustomed to a yoke (upon which he was seated), speaking with man’s voice, hindered the madness of the prophet.

17 T hese are springs without water and mists driven along before a tempest, for whom is reserved forever the gloom of darkness.

These are wells without water, clouds that are brought by a whirlwind, to whom gross darkness is reserved for ever.

18 F or uttering loud boasts of folly, they beguile and lure with lustful desires of the flesh those who are barely escaping from them who are wrongdoers.

For speaking arrogant words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from those who converse in error,

19 T hey promise them liberty, when they themselves are the slaves of depravity and defilement—for by whatever anyone is made inferior or worse or is overcome, to that he is enslaved.

promising them liberty, being they themselves the slaves of corruption: for he who is overcome by someone is subject to bondage by the one that overcame him.

20 F or if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they again become entangled in them and are overcome, their last condition is worse than the first.

Certainly, if having separated themselves from the contaminations of the world, by the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they again entangle themselves therein and are overcome, their latter end is made worse for them than the beginnings.

21 F or never to have obtained a knowledge of the way of righteousness would have been better for them than, having obtained, to turn back from the holy commandment which was delivered to them.

For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn back from the holy commandment delivered unto them.

22 T here has befallen them the thing spoken of in the true proverb, The dog turns back to his own vomit, and, The sow is washed only to wallow again in the mire.

But it has happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog returns unto his own vomit, and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.