1 There arose false prophets among the people. There will be false teachers among you! They will privately bring in destructive heresies (contrary doctrines), denying even the Master who bought them. They bring swift destruction on themselves.
2 Many will follow their lascivious (filthy sensual) deeds. The way of the truth will be maligned.
3 They speak evil words about you because of their extreme greed. They will exploit you with false evil words. Their judgment from long ago is not idle. Their destruction will not delay.
4 God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them down to captivity in pits of darkness reserved for judgment!
5 He did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly!
6 He turned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them with an overthrow, and made them an example to those who are ungodly.
7 He delivered righteous Lot, who was very distressed by the lustful life of the wicked.
8 That righteous man that dwelled among them was tormented by the lawless deeds he saw and heard.
9 Jehovah knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation, and to preserve the unrighteous for the Day of Judgment. (Psalm 34:19) (Matthew 25:46)
10 This is primarily for those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise authority. Daring, self-willed, they do not tremble at glorious ones but speak abusively.
11 Angels, though greater in might and power, do not bring an accusation of abusive judgment against them before Jehovah.
12 But these are creatures without reason. They were born mere animals to be taken and destroyed! They speak abusively in matters of which they are ignorant. They suffer destruction in their own course of destruction.
13 They suffer wrong as their reward for wrongdoing. They are men that count it pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are spots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions while they feast with you.
14 They have eyes full of adultery that cannot cease from sin! They entice unsteady persons. Their hearts are full of covetousness. They are children of cursing.
15 They went astray, forsaking the right way. They followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the wages of wrongdoing.
16 He was rebuked for his own transgression. A beast of burden spoke with a man's voice and restrained (hindered) the madness of the prophet.
17 These are springs without water, and mists driven by a storm, for whom the gloom of darkness has been reserved.
18 For, uttering arrogant words of vanity, they entice in the desires (lusts) of the flesh, by sensuality (lasciviousness), those who are just escaping from the ones who live in error.
19 They promise them freedom, while they are bondservants of corruption. A man is brought into bondage by one and enslaved by another.
20 After they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled and overcome; the last state is worse with them than the first.
21 For it were better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them.
22 It happened to them according to the true proverb: The dog returns to his own vomit, and the sow that had washed to wallowing in the mire.