2Pe 2 | HCSB | STEP | But there were also false prophets 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 will bring swift destruction on themselves .

2 Peter 2

The Judgment of False Teachers

1 But there were also false prophets ^a among the people, just as there will be false teachers ^b among you. They will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought ^c them, and will bring swift destruction on themselves. 2 Many will follow their unrestrained ways, and the way of truth will be blasphemed because of them. ^d 3 They will exploit ^e you in their greed ^f with deceptive words. Their condemnation, ^g pronounced long ago, is not idle, and their destruction does not sleep.

4 For if God didn’t spare ^h the angels who sinned but threw them down into Tartarus ^{▼▼= Gk name for a place of divine punishment in the underworld.
,} ^j and delivered them to be kept in chains ^{▼▼Other mss read in pits} of darkness until judgment; ^l 5 and if He didn’t spare the ancient world, but protected Noah, ^m a preacher of righteousness, and seven others, ^{▼▼Lit righteousness, as the eighth
,} ^o when He brought a flood on the world of the ungodly; 6 and if He reduced the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah ^p to ashes and condemned them to ruin, ^{▼▼Other mss omit to ruin} making them an example to those who were going to be ungodly; ^{▼▼Other mss read an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly
,} ^s 7 and if He rescued righteous Lot, ^t distressed by the unrestrained behavior of the immoral 8 (for as he lived among them, that righteous man tormented himself day by day with the lawless deeds he saw and heard ^u) – 9 then the Lord knows how to rescue ^v the godly from trials and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, ^w 10 especially those who follow the polluting desires of the flesh and despise authority. ^xBold, arrogant people! They do not tremble when they blaspheme the glorious ones; 11 however, angels, who are greater in might and power, do not bring a slanderous charge against them before the Lord. ^{▼▼Other mss read them from the Lord} 12 But these people, like irrational animals – creatures of instinct born to be caught and destroyed – speak blasphemies about things they don’t understand, and in their destruction they too will be destroyed, 13 suffering harm as the payment for unrighteousness. They consider it a pleasure to carouse in the daytime. They are spots and blemishes, delighting in their deceptions ^{▼▼Other mss read delighting in the love feasts} as they feast with you. 14 They have eyes full of adultery ^aa and are always looking for sin. They seduce unstable people and have hearts trained in greed. Children under a curse! ^ab 15 They have gone astray by abandoning the straight path ^ac and have followed the path of Balaam, ^ad the son of Bosor, ^{▼▼Other mss read Beor} who loved the wages of unrighteousness ^af 16 but received a rebuke for his transgression: A donkey that could not talk spoke with a human voice and restrained the prophet’s irrationality. ^ag

17 These people are springs without water, mists driven by a whirlwind. The gloom of darkness has been reserved for them. ^ah 18 For by uttering boastful, empty words, ^ai they seduce, with fleshly desires and debauchery, people who have barely escaped ^{▼▼Or people who are barely escaping} from those who live in error. 19 They promise them freedom, but they themselves are ^{▼▼slave: The strong Greek word doulos cannot be accurately translated in English by "servant" or "bond servant"; the HCSB translates this word as "slave," not out of insensitivity to the legitimate concerns of modern English speakers, but out of a commitment to accurately convey the brutal reality of the Roman empire's inhumane institution as well as the ownership called for by Christ.}slaves of corruption, since people are enslaved to whatever defeats them. ^al 20 For if, having escaped the world’s impurity through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, ^am they are again entangled in these things and defeated, the last state is worse for them than the first. ^an 21 For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness ^ao than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy command ^ap delivered ^aq to them. ^ar 22 It has happened to them according to the true proverb: A dog returns to its own vomit, ^{as
,} ^at and, “a sow, after washing itself, wallows in the mud.”