The Second Epistle General of Peter

⭑ Unlocked Literal Bible :: World English Bible Catholic ⭑

- Chapter 2 -

(Jude 1:3–16)

False prophets came to the people, and false teachers will also come to you. They will secretly bring with them destructive heresies, and they will deny the master who bought them. They are bringing quick destruction upon themselves.

Many will follow their sensuality, and through them the way of truth will be blasphemed.

With greediness they will make a profit off of you with deceptive words. Their condemnation does not delay for long; their destruction does not sleep.

For God did not spare the angels who sinned. Instead he handed them down to Tartarus to be kept in chains of lower darkness until the judgment.

Also, he did not spare the ancient world. Instead, he preserved Noah, who was a herald of righteousness, along with seven others, when he brought a flood on the world of the ungodly.

God also reduced the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes and condemned them to destruction, as an example of what is to happen to the ungodly.

But as for the righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the behavior of lawless men in sensuality, God rescued him.

For that righteous man, who was living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul because of what he saw and heard.

The Lord knows how to rescue godly men out of trials, and how to hold unrighteous men for punishment at the day of judgment.

This is especially true for those who continue in the corrupt desires of the flesh and despise authority. They are presumptuous and arrogant. They are not afraid to blaspheme the glorious ones.

Angels have greater strength and power, but they do not bring insulting judgments against them to the Lord.

But these mindless animals are naturally made for capture and destruction. They do not know what they insult. They will be destroyed.

They will receive the reward of their wrongdoing. They think that luxury during the day is a pleasure. They are stains and blemishes. They enjoy their deceitful actions while they are feasting with you.

They have eyes full of adulterous women; they are never satisfied with sin. They entice unstable souls into wrongdoing, and they have their hearts trained in covetousness. They are children of a curse!

They have abandoned the right way. They went astray, and they have followed the way of Balaam son of Beor, who loved to receive payment for unrighteousness.

But he obtained a rebuke for his own transgression. A mute donkey speaking in a human voice stopped the prophet’s insanity.

These men are like springs without water. They are like clouds that a storm drives along. Thick darkness is reserved for them.

They speak with vain arrogance. They entice people through the lusts of the flesh. They entice people who try to escape from those who live in error.

They promise freedom to them, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For a man is a slave to whatever overcomes him.

Whoever escapes the defilements of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and then returns to those defilements again, the last state has become worse for them than the first state.

It would have been better for them not to know the way of righteousness than to know it and turn away from the holy commandment delivered to them.

This proverb is true for them: “A dog returns to its own vomit. A washed pig returns to the mud.”

(Jude 1:3–16)

But false prophets also arose among the people, as false teachers will also be among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, denying even the Master who bought them, bringing on themselves swift destruction.

Many will follow their immoral(a) ways, and as a result, the way of the truth will be maligned.

In covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words: whose sentence now from of old doesn’t linger, and their destruction will not slumber.

For if God didn’t spare angels when they sinned, but cast them down to Tartarus,(b) and committed them to pits of darkness to be reserved for judgment;

and didn’t spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah with seven others, a preacher of righteousness, when he brought a flood on the world of the ungodly,

and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, having made them an example to those who would live in an ungodly way,

and delivered righteous Lot, who was very distressed by the lustful life of the wicked

(for that righteous man dwelling among them was tormented in his righteous soul from day to day with seeing and hearing lawless deeds),

then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment,

but chiefly those who walk after the flesh in the lust of defilement and despise authority. Daring, self-willed, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries,

whereas angels, though greater in might and power, don’t bring a slanderous judgment against them before the Lord.

But these, as unreasoning creatures, born natural animals to be taken and destroyed, speaking evil in matters about which they are ignorant, will in their destroying surely be destroyed,

receiving the wages of unrighteousness; people who count it pleasure to revel in the daytime, spots and defects, reveling in their deceit while they feast with you;

having eyes full of adultery, and who can’t cease from sin, enticing unsettled souls, having a heart trained in greed, accursed children!

Forsaking the right way, they went astray, having followed the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of wrongdoing;

but he was rebuked for his own disobedience. A speechless donkey spoke with a man’s voice and stopped the madness of the prophet.

These are wells without water, clouds driven by a storm, for whom the blackness of darkness has been reserved forever.

For, uttering great swelling words of emptiness, they entice in the lusts of the flesh, by licentiousness, those who are indeed escaping from those who live in error;

promising them liberty, while they themselves are bondservants of corruption; for a man is brought into bondage by whoever overcomes him.

For if, after they have escaped the defilement of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in it and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first.

For it would be 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.

But it has happened to them according to the true proverb, “The dog turns to his own vomit again,”(c) and “the sow that has washed to wallowing in the mire.”

Footnotes

(a)2:2 TR reads “destructive” instead of “immoral”

(b)2:4 Tartarus is another name for Hell