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- But 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.
- Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute.
- In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.
- For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment;
- if 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;
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- But 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.
- Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned;
- and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.
- For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment;
- and 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;
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- if 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;
- and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the filthy lives of lawless men
- (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)--
- if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials and to hold the unrighteous for the day of judgment, while continuing their punishment.
- This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the sinful nature and despise authority. Bold and arrogant, these men are not afraid to slander celestial beings;
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- and 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;
- and if He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men
- (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),
- then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment,
- and 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,
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- yet even angels, although they are stronger and more powerful, do not bring slanderous accusations against such beings in the presence of the Lord.
- But these men blaspheme in matters they do not understand. They are like brute beasts, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed, and like beasts they too will perish.
- They 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.
- With eyes full of adultery, they never stop sinning; they seduce the unstable; they are experts in greed--an accursed brood!
- They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Beor, who loved the wages of wickedness.
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- whereas angels who are greater in might and power do not bring a reviling judgment against them before the Lord.
- But 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,
- suffering 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,
- having eyes full of adultery that never cease from sin, enticing unstable souls, having a heart trained in greed, accursed children;
- forsaking the right way, they have gone astray, having followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;
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- But he was rebuked for his wrongdoing by a donkey--a beast without speech--who spoke with a man's voice and restrained the prophet's madness.
- These men are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them.
- For they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of sinful human nature, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error.
- They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity--for a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him.
- If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning.
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- but 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.
- These are springs without water and mists driven by a storm, for whom the black darkness has been reserved.
- For speaking out arrogant words of vanity they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones who live in error,
- promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved.
- For 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.
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- It 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.
- 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."
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- For 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.
- It 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."
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