| Holman Christian Standard Bible | NET Bible |
| 1But 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. | 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 their unrestrained ways, and the way of truth will be blasphemed because of them. | 2And many will follow their debauched lifestyles. Because of these false teachers, the way of truth will be slandered. |
| 3They will exploit you in their greed with deceptive words. Their condemnation, pronounced long ago, is not idle, 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 didn't spare the angels who sinned but threw them down into Tartarus and delivered them to be kept in chains of darkness until 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, |
| 5and if He didn't spare the ancient world, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others, when He brought a flood on the world of the ungodly; | 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, |
| 6and if He reduced the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes and condemned them to ruin, making them an example to those who were going to be 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 righteous Lot, distressed by the unrestrained behavior of the immoral | 7and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man in anguish over the debauched lifestyle of lawless men, |
| 8(for as he lived among them, that righteous man tormented himself day by day with 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) |
| 9then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until 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, |
| 10especially those who follow the polluting desires of the flesh and despise authority. Bold, arrogant people! They do not tremble when they blaspheme the glorious ones; | 10especially those who indulge their fleshly desires and who despise authority. Brazen and insolent, they are not afraid to insult the glorious ones, |
| 11however, angels, who are greater in might and power, do not bring a slanderous charge against them before the Lord. | 11yet even angels, who are much more powerful, do not bring a slanderous judgment against them before the Lord. |
| 12But 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, | 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, |
| 13suffering 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 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. |
| 14They have eyes full of adultery and are always looking for sin. They seduce unstable people and have hearts trained in greed. Children under a curse! | 14Their eyes, full of adultery, never stop sinning; they entice unstable people. They have trained their hearts for greed, these cursed children! |
| 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 unrighteousness | 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 received a rebuke for his transgression: A donkey that could not talk spoke with a human voice and restrained the prophet's irrationality. | 16yet was rebuked for his own transgression (a dumb donkey, speaking with a human voice, restrained the prophet's madness). |
| 17These people are springs without water, mists driven by a whirlwind. The gloom of darkness has been reserved for them. | 17These men are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm, for whom the utter depths of darkness have been reserved. |
| 18For by uttering boastful, empty words, they seduce, with fleshly desires and debauchery, people who have barely escaped from those 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, but they themselves are slaves of corruption, since people are enslaved to whatever defeats them. | 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. |
| 20For if, having escaped the world's impurity through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in these things and defeated, the last state is worse for them than the 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. |
| 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. | 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. |
| 22It has happened to them according to the true proverb: A dog returns to its own vomit, and, "a sow, after washing itself, wallows 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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