CHAPTER 2
Now
there were
also
false prophets
among
the
people,
just
as
there will be
false teachers
among
you.
They
will secretly introduce
destructive
heresies
that even
deny
the
Master
who bought
them,
bringing
swift
destruction
on themselves.
In
their greed,
these false teachers will exploit
you
with tales
they have concocted.
The
longstanding
verdict
against them
remains in force,
and
their
destruction
does not
sleep.
For
if
God
did not
spare
the angels
when they sinned,
but
cast them into hell,
delivering them
in chains
to be held
in gloomy darkness
until their
judgment;
if
He did not spare
the ancient
world
when He brought
the flood
on its
ungodly people,
but
preserved
Noah,
a preacher
of righteousness,
among the eight;
if
He condemned
the cities
of Sodom
and
Gomorrah
to destruction,
reducing them to ashes
as
an example
of what is coming on
the ungodly;
(for
that
righteous man,
living
among
them
day
after
day,
was tormented
in his righteous
soul
by the lawless
deeds
he saw
and
heard)—
if all this is so, then the Lord
knows how
to rescue
the godly
from
trials
and
to hold
the unrighteous
for punishment
on
the day
of judgment.
Such punishment is
specially reserved
for those who
indulge
the corrupt
desires
of
the flesh
and
despise
authority.
Bold
and self-willed,
these men are unafraid
to slander
angelic majesties.
Yet not even
angels,
though
greater
in strength
and
power,
dare to bring
such slanderous
charges
against
them
before
the Lord.
These men
are like
irrational
animals,
creatures of instinct,
born
to be captured
and
destroyed.
They blaspheme
in
matters
they do not understand,
and like
such creatures,
they too will be destroyed.
The harm they will suffer
is the wages
of their wickedness.
They consider it
a pleasure
to carouse
in
broad daylight.
They are blots
and
blemishes,
reveling
in
their
deception
as they feast with
you.
Their eyes
are
full
of adultery;
their desire for sin is never satisfied;
they seduce
the unstable.
They are accursed
children
with
hearts
trained
in greed.
They have left
the straight
way
and wandered off
to follow
the
way
of Balaam
son of Beor,
who
loved
the wages
of wickedness.
But
he was
rebuked
for his
transgression
by a donkey,
otherwise without speech,
that spoke
with
a man’s
voice
and restrained
the
prophet’s
madness.
These men
are
springs
without water
and
mists
driven
by
a storm.
Blackest
darkness
is reserved
for them.
With lofty
but empty
words, they appeal
to the sensual
passions
of the flesh
and entice
those
who are just
escaping
from others who
live
in
error.
They promise
them
freedom,
while they themselves
are
slaves
to corruption.
For
a man is a slave
to whatever
has overcome him.
If
indeed
they have escaped
the
corruption
of the
world
through
their knowledge
of the
Lord
and
Savior
Jesus
Christ,
only
to be entangled
and overcome
by it
again,
their
final condition
is
worse than
it was
at first.
It would have been
better
for them
not
to have known
the
way
of righteousness
than
to have known it
and turned away
from
the
holy
commandment
passed on
to them.
Of them
the
proverbs
are
true:
“A dog
returns
to
its
vomit,”
and,
“A sow
that is washed
goes back to her
wallowing
in the mud.”