2 Peter 2
2
False Teachers
1There used to be false prophets among God’s people, just as there are now. And you will have some false teachers in your group. They will secretly teach things that are wrong—teachings that will cause people to be lost. They will even refuse to accept the Master, Jesus, who bought their freedom. And so they will quickly destroy themselves. 2Many will follow their evil ways and say evil things about the Way of truth. 3Those false teachers only want your money. So they will use you by telling you what is not true. But God has already judged them guilty. And they will not escape the One who will destroy them.
4When angels sinned, God did not let them go free without punishment. God sent them to hell and put them in caves# Some Greek copies read “chains.” of darkness. They are being held there to be judged. 5And God punished the evil people who lived long ago. He brought a flood to the world that was full of people who were against him. But God saved Noah and seven other people with him. Noah was a man who preached about being right with God. 6And God also punished the evil cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.# Two cities God destroyed because the people were so evil. He burned those cities until there was nothing left but ashes. He made those cities an example to show what will happen to those who are against God. 7But God saved Lot from those cities. Lot, a good man, was troubled because of the sinful behavior of evil people. 8(Lot was a good man, but he lived with evil people every day. His good heart was hurt by the evil things that he saw and heard.) 9And so the Lord knows how to save those who serve him. He will save them when troubles come. And the Lord will hold evil people and punish them, while waiting for the Judgment Day. 10That punishment is especially for those who live by doing the evil things their sinful selves want, and for those who hate the Lord’s authority.
These false teachers do anything they want and brag about it. They are not afraid to say bad things about the glorious angels. 11The angels are much stronger and more powerful than false teachers. But even the angels do not accuse them with insults before# Some Greek copies read “from.” the Lord. 12But these men say bad things about what they do not understand. They are like animals that act without thinking. These animals are born to be caught and killed. And, like wild animals, these false teachers will be destroyed. 13They have caused many people to suffer; so they themselves will suffer. That is their pay for what they have done. They take pleasure in doing evil things openly. So they are like dirty spots and stains among you. They bring shame to you in the meals that you eat together. 14Every time they look at a woman they want her. Their desire for sin is never satisfied. They lead weak people into the trap of sin. They have taught their hearts to be selfish. God will punish them. 15These false teachers left the right road and lost their way. They followed the way that Balaam went. Balaam was the son of Beor, who loved being paid for doing wrong. 16But a donkey told Balaam that he was sinning. And the donkey is an animal that cannot talk. But the donkey spoke with a man’s voice and stopped the prophet’s crazy thinking.
17Those false teachers are like rivers that have no water. They are like clouds blown by a storm. A place in the blackest darkness has been kept for them. 18They brag with words that mean nothing. By their evil desires they lead people into the trap of sin. They lead away people who are just beginning to escape from other people who live in error. 19They promise them freedom, but they themselves are not free. They are slaves of things that will be destroyed. For a person is a slave of anything that controls him. 20They were made free from the evil in the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. But if they return to evil things and those things control them, then it is worse for them than it was before. 21Yes, it would be better for them to have never known the right way. That would be better than to know the right way and then to turn away from the holy teaching that was given to them. 22What they did is like this true saying: “A dog eats what it throws up.”# Quotation from Proverbs 26:11. And, “After a pig is washed, it goes back and rolls in the mud.”
Currently Selected:
2 Peter 2: ICB
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
Copyright © 2015 by Tommy Nelson™, a Division of Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
2 Peter 2
2
False Prophets and Teachers
(Jude 4-13)
1But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. 2And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. 3And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.
4For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell,#2.4 hell, Greek Tartarus. and delivered them into chains#2.4 chains. Some early manuscripts have pits. of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; 5#Gen 6.1—7.24. and spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person,#2.5 Noah the eighth person or Noah, and seven others. a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly; 6#Gen 19.24. and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomor´rah into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly; 7#Gen 19.1-16. and delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: 8(for that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds:) 9the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished: 10but chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government.
Presumptuous are they, self-willed, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities. 11Whereas angels, which are greater in power and might, bring not railing accusation against them before the Lord. 12But these, as natural brute beasts made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption; 13and shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the daytime. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you; 14having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: a heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children: 15#Num 22.4-35. which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Ba´laam the son of Be´or, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; 16but was rebuked for his iniquity: the dumb ass speaking with man's voice forbade the madness of the prophet.
17These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever. 18For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error. 19While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage. 20For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. 21For it had 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 unto them. 22#Prov 26.11. But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.
Currently Selected:
:
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
King James Version 1611, spelling, punctuation and text formatting modernized by ABS in 1962; typesetting © 2010 American Bible Society.