So be the more eager, brothers, to ratify your calling and election, for as you practise these qualities you will never make a slip;

you will thus be richly furnished with the right of entry into the eternal realm of our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ.

Yes, and I will see to it that even when I am gone, you will keep this constantly in mind.

Still, false prophets did appear among the People, as among you also there will be false teachers, men who will insinuate destructive heresies, even disowning the Lord who ransomed them; they bring rapid destruction on themselves,

and many will follow their immorality (thanks to them the true Way will be maligned);

in their lust they will exploit you with cunning arguments ??men whose doom comes apace from of old, and destruction is awake upon their trail.

But those people! ??like irrational animals, creatures of mere instinct, born for capture and corruption, they scoff at what they are ignorant of; and like animals they will suffer corruption and ruin,

They verify the truth of the proverb: "The dog turns back to what he has vomited, the sow when washed will wallow in the mire."

To begin with, you know that mockers will come with their mockeries in the last days, men who go by their own passions,

The day of the Lord will come like a thief, when the heavens will vanish with crackling roar, the stars will be set ablaze and melt, the earth and all its works will disappear.