2 Peter 2:15-22 ▼

15 They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam (not of the people) son of Beor [Bosor], who loved {ēgapēsen} the wages of wickedness (unrighteousness).

16 But 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.

17 These men are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them.

18 With 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.

19 They promise them freedom (liberty), while they themselves are slaves {douloi} to depravity. For a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him.

20 If indeed they have escaped the corruption of the world through the knowledge (discernment) of our Lord {Kyriou} and Savior Jesus (YHWH saves) Christ [the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ], only to be entangled and overcome by it again, their final condition is worse than it was at first.

21 It 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 (set apart) commandment passed on to them.

22 Of 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.