| Christian Standard Bible | New Living Translation |
| 1There were indeed false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, and will bring swift destruction on themselves. | 1But there were also false prophets in Israel, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will cleverly teach destructive heresies and even deny the Master who bought them. In this way, they will bring sudden destruction on themselves. |
| 2Many will follow their depraved ways, and the way of truth will be maligned because of them. | 2Many will follow their evil teaching and shameful immorality. And because of these teachers, the way of truth will be slandered. |
| 3They will exploit you in their greed with made-up stories. Their condemnation, pronounced long ago, is not idle, and their destruction does not sleep. | 3In their greed they will make up clever lies to get hold of your money. But God condemned them long ago, and their destruction will not be delayed. |
| 4For if God didn't spare the angels who sinned but cast them into hell and delivered them in chains of utter darkness to be kept for judgment; | 4For God did not spare even the angels who sinned. He threw them into hell, in gloomy pits of darkness, where they are being held until the day of judgment. |
| 5and if he didn't spare the ancient world, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others, when he brought the flood on the world of the ungodly; | 5And God did not spare the ancient world—except for Noah and the seven others in his family. Noah warned the world of God’s righteous judgment. So God protected Noah when he destroyed the world of ungodly people with a vast flood. |
| 6and if he reduced the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes and condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is coming to the ungodly; | 6Later, God condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and turned them into heaps of ashes. He made them an example of what will happen to ungodly people. |
| 7and if he rescued righteous Lot, distressed by the depraved behavior of the immoral | 7But God also rescued Lot out of Sodom because he was a righteous man who was sick of the shameful immorality of the wicked people around him. |
| 8(for as that righteous man lived among them day by day, his righteous soul was tormented by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)-- | 8Yes, Lot was a righteous man who was tormented in his soul by the wickedness he saw and heard day after day. |
| 9then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment, | 9So you see, the Lord knows how to rescue godly people from their trials, even while keeping the wicked under punishment until the day of final judgment. |
| 10especially those who follow the polluting desires of the flesh and despise authority. Bold, arrogant people! They are not afraid to slander the glorious ones; | 10He is especially hard on those who follow their own twisted sexual desire, and who despise authority. These people are proud and arrogant, daring even to scoff at supernatural beings without so much as trembling. |
| 11however, angels, who are greater in might and power, do not bring a slanderous charge against them before the Lord. | 11But the angels, who are far greater in power and strength, do not dare to bring from the Lord a charge of blasphemy against those supernatural beings. |
| 12But these people, like irrational animals--creatures of instinct born to be caught and destroyed--slander what they do not understand, and in their destruction they too will be destroyed. | 12These false teachers are like unthinking animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed. They scoff at things they do not understand, and like animals, they will be destroyed. |
| 13They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done. They consider it a pleasure to carouse in broad daylight. They are spots and blemishes, delighting in their deceptions while they feast with you. | 13Their destruction is their reward for the harm they have done. They love to indulge in evil pleasures in broad daylight. They are a disgrace and a stain among you. They delight in deception even as they eat with you in your fellowship meals. |
| 14They have eyes full of adultery that never stop looking for sin. They seduce unstable people and have hearts trained in greed. Children under a curse! | 14They commit adultery with their eyes, and their desire for sin is never satisfied. They lure unstable people into sin, and they are well trained in greed. They live under God’s curse. |
| 15They have gone astray by abandoning the straight path and have followed the path of Balaam, the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of wickedness | 15They have wandered off the right road and followed the footsteps of Balaam son of Beor, who loved to earn money by doing wrong. |
| 16but received a rebuke for his lawlessness: A speechless donkey spoke with a human voice and restrained the prophet's madness. | 16But Balaam was stopped from his mad course when his donkey rebuked him with a human voice. |
| 17These people are springs without water, mists driven by a storm. The gloom of darkness has been reserved for them. | 17These people are as useless as dried-up springs or as mist blown away by the wind. They are doomed to blackest darkness. |
| 18For by uttering boastful, empty words, they seduce, with fleshly desires and debauchery, people who have barely escaped from those who live in error. | 18They brag about themselves with empty, foolish boasting. With an appeal to twisted sexual desires, they lure back into sin those who have barely escaped from a lifestyle of deception. |
| 19They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption, since people are enslaved to whatever defeats them. | 19They promise freedom, but they themselves are slaves of sin and corruption. For you are a slave to whatever controls you. |
| 20For if, having escaped the world's impurity through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in these things and defeated, the last state is worse for them than the first. | 20And when people escape from the wickedness of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and then get tangled up and enslaved by sin again, they are worse off than before. |
| 21For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy command delivered to them. | 21It would be better if they had never known the way to righteousness than to know it and then reject the command they were given to live a holy life. |
| 22It has happened to them according to the true proverb: A dog returns to its own vomit, and, "a washed sow returns to wallowing in the mud." | 22They prove the truth of this proverb: “A dog returns to its vomit.” And another says, “A washed pig returns to the mud.” |
| The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. | Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. |
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