Dual Panel1BUT ALSO [in those days] there arose false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among yourselves, who will subtly {and} stealthily introduce heretical doctrines (destructive heresies), even denying {and} disowning the Master Who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.
2And many will follow their immoral ways {and} lascivious doings; because of them the true Way will be maligned {and} defamed.
3And in their covetousness (lust, greed) they will exploit you with false (cunning) arguments. From of old the sentence [of condemnation] for them has not been idle; their destruction (eternal misery) has not been asleep.
4For God did not [even] spare angels that sinned, but cast them into hell, delivering them to be kept there in pits of gloom till the judgment {and} their doom.
5And He spared not the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven other persons, when He brought a flood upon the world of ungodly [people].
6And He condemned to ruin {and} extinction the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, reducing them to ashes [and thus] set them forth as an example to those who would be ungodly;
7And He rescued righteous Lot, greatly worn out {and} distressed by the wanton ways of the ungodly {and} lawless--
8For that just man, living [there] among them, tortured his righteous soul every day with what he saw and heard of [their] unlawful and wicked deeds--
9Now if [all these things are true, then be sure] the Lord knows how to rescue the godly out of temptations {and} trials, and how to keep the ungodly under chastisement until the day of judgment {and} doom,
10And particularly those who walk after the flesh and indulge in the lust of polluting passion and scorn {and} despise authority. Presumptuous [and] daring [self-willed and self-loving creatures]! They scoff at {and} revile dignitaries (glorious ones) without trembling,
11Whereas [even] angels, though superior in might and power, do not bring a defaming charge against them before the Lord.
12But these [people]! Like unreasoning beasts, mere creatures of instinct, born [only] to be captured and destroyed, railing at things of which they are ignorant, they shall utterly perish in their [own] corruption [in their destroying they shall surely be destroyed],
13Being destined to receive [punishment as] the reward of [their] unrighteousness [suffering wrong as the hire for their wrongdoing]. They count it a delight to revel in the daytime [living luxuriously and delicately]. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions {and} carousing together [even] as they feast with you.
14They have eyes full of harlotry, insatiable for sin. They beguile {and} bait {and} lure away unstable souls. Their hearts are trained in covetousness (lust, greed), [they are] children of a curse [exposed to cursing]!
15Forsaking the straight road they have gone astray; they have followed the way of Balaam [the son] of Beor, who loved the reward of wickedness.
16But he was rebuked for his own transgression when a dumb beast of burden spoke with human voice and checked the prophet's madness.
17These are springs without water and mists driven along before a tempest, for whom is reserved {forever} the gloom of darkness.
18For uttering loud boasts of folly, they beguile {and} lure with lustful desires of the flesh those who are barely escaping from them who are wrongdoers.
19They promise them liberty, when they themselves are the slaves of depravity {and} defilement--for by whatever anyone is made inferior {or} worse {or} is overcome, to that [person or thing] he is enslaved.
20For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through [the full, personal] knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they again become entangled in them and are overcome, their last condition is worse [for them] than the first.
21For never to have obtained a [full, personal] knowledge of the way of righteousness would have been better for them than, having obtained [such knowledge], to turn back from the holy commandment which was [verbally] delivered to them.
22There has befallen them the thing spoken of in the true proverb, The dog turns back to his own vomit, and, The sow is washed only to wallow again in the mire.