1 But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction on themselves. 2 And many will follow their debauchery, and because of them the way of truth will be slandered. 3 And in their greed they will exploit you with fabricated words. Their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction does not slumber.

4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into Tartarus and handed them over to chains of gloom, kept for judgment, 5 and did not spare the ancient world, but protected Noah, a herald of righteousness, along with seven others, when he brought a flood on the world of the ungodly, 6 and reduced the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes, condemning them to destruction, setting them as an example of what is coming to the ungodly, 7 and rescued righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the debauched conduct of the lawless— 8 for as he lived among them, this righteous man tormented his righteous soul day after day over their lawless deeds by what he saw and heard— 9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trial and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, 10 especially those who follow the flesh in defiling desire and despise authority. Bold and self-willed, they do not tremble when they blaspheme glorious beings, 11 whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not bring a blasphemous judgment against them. 12 But these, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct born for capture and destruction, blaspheme what they do not understand and will also be destroyed in their corruption, 13 suffering harm as the wages of unrighteousness. They consider daytime luxury a pleasure. They are spots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions while feasting with you. 14 They have eyes full of adultery and never cease from sin. They entice unstable souls and have a heart trained in greed. They are children of a curse. 15 Leaving the straight way, they have gone astray, following the way of Balaam son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness, 16 but was rebuked for his own transgression: a speechless beast of burden, speaking with a human voice, restrained the prophet's madness.

17 These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm, for whom the gloom of darkness has been reserved. 18 For, speaking arrogant, empty words, they entice by fleshly desires and debauchery those who are barely escaping from those who live in error. 19 They promise them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption, for a person is enslaved to whatever has overcome him. 20 For if, after escaping the defilements of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they become entangled in them again and are overcome, their last state has become worse than the first. 21 For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. 22 What the true proverb says has happened to them: “A dog returns to its own vomit,” and, “A washed sow returns to wallowing in the mud.”