2Pe 2 | NASB1995 | STEP | But false prophets also arose among the people , just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies , even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves .

2 Peter 2

The Rise of False Prophets

1 But ^afalse prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be ^bfalse teachers ^camong you, who will ^dsecretly introduce ^edestructive heresies, even ^fdenying the ^gMaster who ^hbought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. 2 Many will follow their ⁱsensuality, and because of them ^jthe way of the truth will be ^kmaligned; 3 and in their ^lgreed they will ^mexploit you with ⁿfalse words; ^otheir judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.

4 For ^pif God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and ^qcommitted them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment; 5 and did not spare ^rthe ancient world, but preserved ^sNoah, a ^{▼▼ Or herald}preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a ^uflood upon the world of the ungodly; 6 and if He ^vcondemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an ^wexample to those who would ^xlive ungodly lives thereafter; 7 and if He ^yrescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the ^zsensual conduct of ^aaunprincipled men 8 (for by what he saw and heard that ^abrighteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds), 9 ^ac then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from ^{▼▼ Lit trial; or temptation}temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the ^aeday of judgment, 10 and especially those who ^{▼▼ Lit go after
,} ^agindulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and ^ahdespise authority.

Daring, ^aiself-willed, they do not tremble when they ^ajrevile angelic ^{▼▼ Lit glories}majesties, 11 ^alwhereas angels who are greater in might and power do not bring a reviling judgment against them before the Lord. 12 But ^amthese, like unreasoning animals, ^anborn as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, reviling where they have no knowledge, will in ^{▼▼ Lit their destruction also}the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed, 13 suffering wrong as ^apthe wages of doing wrong. They count it a pleasure to ^aqrevel in the ^ardaytime. They are stains and blemishes, ^asreveling in their ^{▼▼ One early ms reads love feasts}deceptions, as they ^aucarouse with you, 14 having eyes full of adultery that never cease from sin, ^aventicing ^awunstable souls, having a heart trained in ^axgreed, ^ayaccursed children; 15 forsaking ^azthe right way, they have gone astray, having followed ^bathe way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved ^bbthe wages of unrighteousness; 16 but he received a rebuke for his own transgression, ^bc for a mute donkey, speaking with a voice of a man, restrained the madness of the prophet.

17 These are ^bdsprings without water and mists driven by a storm, ^befor whom the ^{▼▼ Lit blackness of darkness}black darkness has been reserved. 18 For speaking out ^bgarrogant words of ^bhvanity they ^bientice by fleshly desires, by ^bjsensuality, those who barely ^bkescape from the ones who live in error, 19 promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for ^blby what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved. 20 For if, after they have ^bmescaped the defilements of the world by ^bnthe knowledge of the ^boLord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again ^bpentangled in them and are overcome, ^bqthe last state has become worse for them than the first. 21 ^brFor it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from ^bsthe holy commandment ^bthanded on to them. 22 ^{▼▼ Lit The thing of the true proverb has happened to them}It has happened to them according to the true proverb, ^bv“A dog returns to its own vomit,” and, “A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire.”