2 Peter Chapter 2
1 But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you. They will privately⁺ bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord and Master~ who bought them, thereby bringing swift destruction upon themselves.
2 Many will follow their exceedingly deadly⁺ ways because through them, the way of truth will be blasphemed⁺ and slandered.
3 Through covetousness and with deceptive⁺ words they will exploit⁺ you. For them, the judgment of long ago⁺ is not idle⁺. Their damnation does not slumber.
4 For God did not spare the angels who sinned but cast them down to Hell and delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved to judgment.
5 He did not spare the old world, but saved Noah the eighth from Adam, a preacher of righteousness, by bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly.
6 And He turned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes to condemn them with an overthrow. In doing this, He made an example to those who might later live ungodly lives.
7 He delivered righteous⁺ Lot who was oppressed⁺ with the filthy conversation~ and conduct of the wicked.
8 For He saw and heard that righteous man living⁺ among them, his righteous soul tormented⁺ day after day with their unlawful deeds.
9 The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of trials⁺ and reserve the unrighteous⁺ to the day of judgment to be punished,
10 but chiefly those who walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise government. They are presumptuous, selfwilled, and not afraid to speak evil of the glory⁺.
11 Angels, however, who are greater in power and might, do not bring a reviling⁺ accusation against them before the Lord.
12 But these, as natural brute beasts, are made to be taken and destroyed. They speak evil about things they do not understand and they will utterly perish in their own corruption.
13 They will receive the reward of unrighteousness as those who count it pleasure~ to riot in the daytime. They are spots and blemishes, sporting~ themselves with their own deceitfulness while they feast with you.
14 They have eyes full of adultery and cannot stop⁺ sinning, deceiving⁺ unstable souls. They have hearts exercised with covetous practices. They are cursed children
15 who have forsaken the right way and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved~ the wages of unrighteousness
16 but was rebuked for his iniquity. The speechless⁺ donkey⁺ spoke with a man's voice and stopped⁺ the madness of the corrupt prophet.
17 These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a storm⁺ for whom the mist of darkness is reserved forever.
18 They speak great swelling words of vanity to entice⁺ into the lusts of the flesh by wantonness~ those who had escaped from those who live in error.
19 While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption. For anyone who has been overcome by sin is brought in bondage.
20 For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein and overcome, then the latter end is worse for them than the beginning.
21 For it would have been better for them to have not known the way of righteousness than, after they have known it, to turn away from the holy commandment delivered to them.
22 But what happens to them is true to the old proverb: The dog returns to its own vomit again and the sow that was washed returns to wallowing in the mire. Proverbs 26:11