| Holman Christian Standard Bible | New International Version |
| 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 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 sovereign Lord who bought them--bringing swift destruction on themselves. |
| 2Many will follow their unrestrained ways, and the way of truth will be blasphemed because of them. | 2Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. |
| 3They will exploit you in their greed with deceptive words. Their condemnation, pronounced long ago, is not idle, and their destruction does not sleep. | 3In their greed these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping. |
| 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 angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them in chains of darkness to be held for 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; | 5if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others; |
| 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; | 6if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; |
| 7and if He rescued righteous Lot, distressed by the unrestrained behavior of the immoral | 7and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the depraved conduct of the lawless |
| 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 that righteous man, living among them day after day, 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, | 9if 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. |
| 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; | 10This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the flesh and despise authority. Bold and arrogant, they are not afraid to heap abuse on celestial beings; |
| 11however, angels, who are greater in might and power, do not bring a slanderous charge against them before the Lord. | 11yet even angels, although they are stronger and more powerful, do not heap abuse on such beings when bringing judgment on them from 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 people blaspheme in matters they do not understand. They are like unreasoning animals, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed, and like animals they too will perish. |
| 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. | 13They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done. Their idea of pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their pleasures while they feast 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! | 14With eyes full of adultery, they never stop sinning; they seduce the unstable; they are experts in greed--an accursed brood! |
| 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 | 15They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Bezer, who loved the wages of wickedness. |
| 16but received a rebuke for his transgression: A donkey that could not talk spoke with a human voice and restrained the prophet's irrationality. | 16But he was rebuked for his wrongdoing by a donkey--an animal without speech--who spoke with a human voice and 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 people are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them. |
| 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 they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of the flesh, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error. |
| 19They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption, since people are enslaved to whatever defeats them. | 19They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity--for "people are slaves to whatever has mastered them." |
| 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. | 20If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and are overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. |
| 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 have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on 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." | 22Of them the proverbs are true: "A dog returns to its vomit," and, "A sow that is washed returns to her wallowing in the mud." |
| Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. | New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. |
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