2 Peter 2

2 ¹ But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, and so bring swift destruction upon themselves. ^a a v1 The "Master who bought them" is Jesus, who paid for their freedom with his own blood — making their denial of him all the more tragic. ² Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. ³ And in their greed they will exploit you with deceptive words. Their condemnation, pronounced long ago, is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.

⁴ For if our Father did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into the deepest pit of gloom, committing them to chains of darkness to be held for judgment; ^b b v4 Tartarus is a place of confinement for fallen angels — a different word from the usual term for hell, naming the prison where rebellious spirits await judgment. ⁵ and if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; ⁶ and if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by reducing them to ashes, making them an example of what is coming on the ungodly; ⁷ and if he rescued righteous Lot, worn out by the shameless behavior of lawless people ⁸ (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, his righteous soul was tormented by the lawless deeds he saw and heard); ⁹ then our Father knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, ¹⁰ especially those who follow the corrupt desire of the flesh and despise authority. Bold and arrogant, they are not afraid to slander celestial beings; ¹¹ whereas angels, though greater in strength and power, do not bring a slanderous judgment against them before our Father. ¹² But these people, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct born to be caught and destroyed, slander what they do not understand, and in their destruction they too will be destroyed, ¹³ suffering wrong as the wages for their wrongdoing. They count it a pleasure to revel in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions while they feast with you. ¹⁴ They have eyes full of adultery, never ceasing from sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. They are accursed children! ¹⁵ They have abandoned the straight way and wandered off, following the way of Balaam son of Beor, who loved the wages of wrongdoing. ^c c v15 Balaam was a prophet for hire who pursued money over faithfulness and was rebuked by his own donkey — his full story is in Numbers 22–24. ¹⁶ But he was rebuked for his own transgression: a donkey without speech spoke with a human voice and restrained the prophet's madness.

¹⁷ These people are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. The deepest darkness has been reserved for them. ¹⁸ They use boastful, empty words to lure people through the sensual desires of the flesh — even those who are barely escaping from people who live in error. ¹⁹ They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of corruption — for a person becomes a slave to whatever overpowers them.

²⁰ For if, after they have escaped the corruptions of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, they end up worse off than when they started. ²¹ For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than to have known it and then turn their back on the holy commandment they were given. ²² What the true proverb says has happened to them: "A dog returns to its own vomit," and, "A sow, once washed, returns to wallowing in the mud."