1. But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who secretly shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord who purchased them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.
2. And many shall follow their destructive ways; because of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.
3. And through covetousness shall they with deceitful words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now for a long time has not delayed, and their damnation does not slumber.
4. For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to gloom, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment;
5. And did not spare the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;
6. And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an example to those who afterwards would live ungodly;
7. And delivered just Lot, distressed with the filthy conduct of the wicked:
8. (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, distressed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;)
9. The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust for the day of judgment to be punished:
10. But chiefly those who walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise authority. Presumptuous and self-willed, they are not afraid to speak evil of that which is honorable
11. While angels, who are greater in power and might, do not bring reproachful accusations against them before the Lord.
12. But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they do not understand; and shall completely perish in their own corruption;
13. And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as those who count it a pleasure to riot in the daytime. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceptions while they feast with you;
14. Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: having a heart they have occupied with covetous practices; cursed children:
15. Who have forsaken the right way, and have gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;
16. But was rebuked for his iniquity: the dumb donkey speaking with man's voice restrained the madness of the prophet.
17. These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever.
18. For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much licentiousness, those who had entirely escaped from those who live in error.
19. While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for by whom a person is overcome, by the same is he brought in bondage.
20. For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.
21. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them.
22. But it has happened to them according to the true proverb, The dog has turned back to his own vomit; and the sow that was washed has returned to her wallowing in the mire.
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