| New American Standard Bible 1995 | New International Version |
| 1But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon 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 sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; | 2Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. |
| 3and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep. | 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 did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for 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 did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon 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 condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly lives thereafter; | 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, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men | 7and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the depraved conduct of the lawless |
| 8(for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds), | 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 temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for 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. |
| 10and especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise authority. Daring, self-willed, they do not tremble when they revile angelic majesties, | 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; |
| 11whereas angels who are greater in might and power do not bring a reviling judgment 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, like unreasoning animals, born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, reviling where they have no knowledge, will in the destruction of those creatures also 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 wrong as the wages of doing wrong. They count it a pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are stains and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, as they carouse 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. |
| 14having eyes full of adultery that never cease from sin, enticing unstable souls, having a heart trained in greed, accursed children; | 14With eyes full of adultery, they never stop sinning; they seduce the unstable; they are experts in greed--an accursed brood! |
| 15forsaking the right way, they have gone astray, having followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, 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 he received a rebuke for his own transgression, for a mute donkey, speaking with a voice of a man, restrained the madness of the prophet. | 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 are springs without water and mists driven by a storm, for whom the black darkness has been reserved. | 17These people are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them. |
| 18For speaking out arrogant words of vanity they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones 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. |
| 19promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved. | 19They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity--for "people are slaves to whatever has mastered them." |
| 20For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become 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 be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment handed on 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, returns to wallowing in the mire." | 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." |
| New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit //www.lockman.org | 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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