| Berean Study Bible | NET Bible |
| 1Now there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. | 1But false prophets arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. These false teachers will infiltrate your midst with destructive heresies, even to the point of denying the Master who bought them. As a result, they will bring swift destruction on themselves. |
| 2Many will follow in their depravity, and because of them the way of truth will be defamed. | 2And many will follow their debauched lifestyles. Because of these false teachers, the way of truth will be slandered. |
| 3In their greed, these false teachers will exploit you with deceptive words. The longstanding verdict against them remains in force, and their destruction does not sleep. | 3And in their greed they will exploit you with deceptive words. Their condemnation pronounced long ago is not sitting idly by; their destruction is not asleep. |
| 4For if God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but cast them deep into hell, placing them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment; | 4For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but threw them into hell and locked them up in chains in utter darkness, to be kept until the judgment, |
| 5if He did not spare the ancient world when He brought the flood on its ungodly people, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, among the eight; | 5and if he did not spare the ancient world, but did protect Noah, a herald of righteousness, along with seven others, when God brought a flood on an ungodly world, |
| 6if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction, reducing them to ashes as an example of what is coming on the ungodly; | 6and if he turned to ashes the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah when he condemned them to destruction, having appointed them to serve as an example to future generations of the ungodly, |
| 7and if He rescued Lot, a righteous man distressed by the depraved conduct of the lawless | 7and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man in anguish over the debauched lifestyle of lawless men, |
| 8(for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)— | 8(for while he lived among them day after day, that righteous man was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard) |
| 9if all this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment. | 9--if so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from their trials, and to reserve the unrighteous for punishment at the day of judgment, |
| 10Such punishment is specially reserved for those who indulge the corrupt desires of the flesh and despise authority. Bold and self-willed, they are unafraid to slander glorious beings. | 10especially those who indulge their fleshly desires and who despise authority. Brazen and insolent, they are not afraid to insult the glorious ones, |
| 11Yet not even angels, though greater in strength and power, dare to bring such slanderous charges against them before the Lord. | 11yet even angels, who are much more powerful, do not bring a slanderous judgment against them before the Lord. |
| 12These men are like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be captured and destroyed. They blaspheme in matters they do not understand, and like such creatures, they too will be destroyed. | 12But these men, like irrational animals--creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed--do not understand whom they are insulting, and consequently in their destruction they will be destroyed, |
| 13The harm they will suffer is the wages of their wickedness. They consider it a pleasure to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deception as they feast with you. | 13suffering harm as the wages for their harmful ways. By considering it a pleasure to carouse in broad daylight, they are stains and blemishes, indulging in their deceitful pleasures when they feast together with you. |
| 14Their eyes are full of adultery; their desire for sin is never satisfied; they seduce the unstable. They are accursed children with hearts trained in greed. | 14Their eyes, full of adultery, never stop sinning; they entice unstable people. They have trained their hearts for greed, these cursed children! |
| 15They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Beor, who loved the wages of wickedness. | 15By forsaking the right path they have gone astray, because they followed the way of Balaam son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness, |
| 16But he was rebuked for his transgression by a donkey, otherwise without speech, that spoke with a man’s voice and restrained the prophet’s madness. | 16yet was rebuked for his own transgression (a dumb donkey, speaking with a human voice, restrained the prophet's madness). |
| 17These men are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them. | 17These men are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm, for whom the utter depths of darkness have been reserved. |
| 18With lofty but empty words, they appeal to the sensual passions of the flesh and entice those who are just escaping from others who live in error. | 18For by speaking high-sounding but empty words they are able to entice, with fleshly desires and with debauchery, people who have just escaped from those who reside in error. |
| 19They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves to depravity. For a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him. | 19Although these false teachers promise such people freedom, they themselves are enslaved to immorality. For whatever a person succumbs to, to that he is enslaved. |
| 20If indeed they have escaped the corruption of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, only to be entangled and overcome by it again, their final condition is worse than it was at first. | 20For if after they have escaped the filthy things of the world through the rich knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they again get entangled in them and succumb to them, their last state has become worse for them than their first. |
| 21It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than to have known it and then to turn away from the holy commandment passed on to them. | 21For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than, having known it, to turn back from the holy commandment that had been delivered to them. |
| 22Of them the proverbs are true: “A dog returns to its vomit,” and, “A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud.” | 22They are illustrations of this true proverb: "A dog returns to its own vomit," and "A sow, after washing herself, wallows in the mire." |
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