There were indeed false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, and will bring swift destruction on themselves.
Many will follow their depraved ways, and the way of truth will be maligned because of them.
They will exploit you in their greed with made-up stories. Their condemnation, pronounced long ago, is not idle, and their destruction does not sleep.
(for as that righteous man lived among them day by day, his righteous soul was tormented by the lawless deeds he saw and heard) —
then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment,
especially those who follow the polluting desires of the flesh and despise authority.
Bold, arrogant people! They are not afraid to slander the glorious ones;
But these people, like irrational animals — creatures of instinct born to be caught and destroyed — slander what they do not understand, and in their destruction they too will be destroyed.
They have eyes full of adultery that never stop looking for sin. They seduce unstable people and have hearts trained in greed. Children under a curse!
but received a rebuke for his lawlessness: A speechless donkey spoke with a human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.
These people are springs without water, mists driven by a storm. The gloom of darkness has been reserved for them.
They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption, since people are enslaved to whatever defeats them.
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 command delivered to them.
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