2 Peter 2
2
False prophets and teachers
1Sometimes false prophets spoke to the people of Israel. False teachers will also sneak in and speak harmful lies to you. But these teachers don't really belong to the Master who paid a great price for them, and they will quickly destroy themselves. 2Many people will follow their evil ways and cause others to tell lies about the true way. 3They will be greedy and cheat you with smooth talk. But long ago God decided to punish them, and God doesn't sleep.
4God did not have pity on the angels that sinned. He had them tied up and thrown into the dark pits of hell until the time of judgment. 5And during Noah's time, God did not have pity on the ungodly people of the world. He destroyed them with a flood, though he did save eight people, including Noah, who preached the truth.#Gn 6.1—7.24.
6God punished the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah#2.6 Sodom and Gomorrah: During the time of Abraham the Lord destroyed these cities because the people there were so evil. See Genesis 19.24. by burning them to ashes, and this is a warning to anyone else who wants to sin.#Gn 19.24.
7-8Lot lived right and was greatly troubled by the terrible way those wicked people were living. He was a good man, and day after day he suffered because of the evil things he saw and heard. So the Lord rescued him.#Gn 19.1-16. 9This shows that the Lord knows how to rescue godly people from their sufferings and to punish evil people while they wait for the day of judgment.
10The Lord is especially hard on people who disobey him and don't think of anything except their own filthy desires. They are reckless and proud and are not afraid of cursing the glorious beings in heaven. 11Although angels are more powerful than these evil beings,#2.11 evil beings: Or “evil teachers”. even the angels don't dare to accuse them to the Lord.
12These people are no better than senseless animals that live by their feelings and are born to be caught and killed. They speak evil of things they don't know anything about. But their own corrupt deeds will destroy them. 13They have done evil, and they will be rewarded with evil.
They think it is fun to have wild parties during the day. They are immoral, and the meals they eat with you are spoilt by the shameful and selfish way they carry on.#2.13 and the meals they eat with you are spoilt by the shameful and selfish way they carry on: Some manuscripts have “and the meals they eat with you are spoilt by the shameful way they carry on during your feasts of Christian love.” 14All they think about is having sex with someone else's husband or wife. There is no end to their wicked deeds. They trick people who are easily fooled, and their minds are filled with greedy thoughts. But they are headed for trouble!
15They have left the true road and have gone down the wrong path by following the example of the prophet Balaam. He was the son of Beor and loved what he got from being a criminal.#Nu 22.4-35. 16But a donkey corrected him for this evil deed. It spoke to him with a human voice and made him stop his foolishness.
17These people are like dried up water holes and clouds blown by a storm. The darkest part of hell is waiting for them. 18They boast out loud about their stupid nonsense. And by being vulgar and crude, they trap people who have barely escaped from living the wrong kind of life. 19They promise freedom to everyone. But they are merely slaves of filthy living, because people are slaves of whatever controls them.
20When they learnt about our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they escaped from the filthy things of this world. But they are again caught up and controlled by these filthy things, and now they are in a worse state than they were at first. 21They would have been better off if they had never known about the right way. Even after they knew what was right, they turned their backs on the holy commandments that they were given. 22What happened to them is just like the true saying,#Pr 26.11.
“A dog will come back
to lick up its own vomit.
A pig that has been washed
will roll in the mud.”
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© British and Foreign Bible Society 2012
2 Peter 2
2
False Teachers
1In the past there were false prophets among God’s people. It is the same now. You will have some false teachers in your group. They will teach things that are wrong—ideas that will cause people to be lost. And they will teach in a way that will be hard for you to see that they are wrong. They will even refuse to follow the Master who bought their freedom. And so they will quickly destroy themselves. 2Many people will follow them in the morally wrong things they do. And because of them, others will say bad things about the way of truth we follow. 3These false teachers only want your money. So they will use you by telling you things that are not true. But the judgment against these false teachers has been ready for a long time. And they will not escape God who will destroy them.
4When angels sinned, God did not let them go free without punishment. He sent them to hell. He put those angels in caves of darkness, where they are being held until the time when God will judge them.
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 God. But he saved Noah and seven other people with him. Noah was a man who told people about living right.
6God also punished the evil cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. He burned them until there was nothing left but ashes. He used those cities as an example of what will happen to people who are against God. 7But he saved Lot, a good man who lived there. Lot was greatly troubled by the morally bad lives of those evil people. 8This good man lived with those evil people every day, and his good heart was hurt by the evil things he saw and heard.
9So you see that the Lord God knows how to save those who are devoted to him. He will save them when troubles come. And the Lord will hold evil people to punish them on the day of judgment. 10That punishment is for those who are always doing the evil that their sinful selves want to do. It is for those who hate the Lord’s authority.
These false teachers do whatever they want, and they are so proud of themselves. They are not afraid even to say bad things against the glorious ones.#2:10 the glorious ones Literally, “the glories.” These seem to be some kind of angelic beings. 11The angels are much stronger and more powerful than these beings. But even the angels don’t accuse them and say bad things about them to the Lord.
12But these false teachers speak evil against what they don’t understand. They are like animals that do things without really thinking—like wild animals that are born to be caught and killed. And, like wild animals, they will be destroyed. 13They have made many people suffer. So they themselves will suffer. That is their pay for what they have done.
They think it is fun to do evil where everyone can see them. They enjoy the evil things that please them. So they are like dirty spots and stains among you—they bring shame to you in the meals you eat together. 14Every time they look at a woman, they want her. They are always sinning this way. And they lead weaker people into the trap of sin. They have taught themselves well to be greedy. They are under a curse.#2:14 under a curse Literally, “children of a curse,” meaning that God will punish them.
15These false teachers left the right way and went the wrong way. They followed the same way that the prophet Balaam went. He was the son of Beor, who loved being paid for doing wrong. 16But a donkey told him that he was doing wrong. A donkey cannot talk, of course, but that donkey spoke with a man’s voice and stopped the prophet from acting so crazy.
17These false teachers are like springs that have no water. They are like clouds that are blown by a storm. A place in the deepest darkness has been kept for them. 18They boast with words that mean nothing. They lead people into the trap of sin. They find people who have just escaped from a wrong way of life and lead them back into sin. They do this by using the evil things people want to do in their human weakness. 19These false teachers promise those people freedom, but they themselves are not free. They are slaves to a mind that has been ruined by sin. Yes, people are slaves to anything that controls them.
20People can be made free from the evil in the world. They can be made free by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. But if they go back into those evil things and are controlled by 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 these true sayings: “A dog vomits and goes back to what it threw up.”#Quote from Prov. 26:11. And, “After a pig is washed, it goes back and rolls in the mud again.”
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