2 Peter 2:15-22 ▼

15 having forsaken a right way, they went astray, having followed in the way of Balaam the [son] of Bosor, who loved a reward of unrighteousness,

16 and had a rebuke of his own iniquity—a mute donkey, having spoken in man’s voice, forbid the madness of the prophet.

17 These are wells without water, and clouds driven by a storm, to whom the deepest gloom of darkness has been kept throughout the age;

18 for speaking swollen words of vanity, they entice in desires of the flesh—licentiousness, those who had truly escaped from those conducting themselves in error,

19 promising liberty to them, themselves being servants of corruption, for by whom anyone has been overcome, he has been brought to servitude to this one also;

20 for if having escaped from the defilements of the world, in the acknowledging of the LORD and Savior Jesus Christ, and again being entangled by these things, they have been overcome, the last things have become worse to them than the first,

21 for it were better to them not to have acknowledged the way of righteousness, than having acknowledged [it], to turn back from the holy command delivered to them,

22 and that of the true proverb has happened to them: “A dog turned back on his own vomit,” and, “A sow having bathed herself—to rolling in mire.”