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But people who falsely proclaimed {messages from God} were also amidst the Israelites. In the same way there will also be people who teach false {messages} amidst you. They will introduce opinions {that will result in} eternal condemnation. They will even reject their owner, {Jesus,} who redeemed them. {As a result of this,} God will soon condemn them {for eternity}. 2 And many {people} will do the same unrestrained immoral acts {as these false teachers}. Because of these false teachers, {unbelievers} will speak evil of Christianity. 3 And due to their greedy hearts, {these false teachers} will make a profit off of you by telling you lies. God condemned them a long time ago, and God will certainly destroy them.4 {This judgment is certain} because God did not let the angels who acted sinfully remain unpunished. On the contrary, he threw them into hell {where they are} chained in darkness. God imprisoned {these sinful angels} there and is holding them there in order to judge them. 5 And God did not let {the people who lived in} the world long ago remain unpunished. However, he preserved eight people, including Noah, who was a righteous herald, when he destroyed by a flood the ungodly {people who lived in the} world {at that time}. 6 And God condemned the cities {called} Sodom and Gomorrah to be destroyed by burning them completely to ashes. {This resulted in God} making {those cities} an example of what will happen to people who dishonor God. 7 And God rescued Lot, who was a righteous man. Lot was greatly distressed because of the unrestrained immoral acts of the people who acted lawlessly {in Sodom}. 8 (When he lived with those wicked people {in Sodom}, that righteous man Lot distressed himself every day by what he saw and heard. {He did so} because of the things people did that were against God’s law.) 9 {Since these things are all true, then you can be sure that} the Lord knows how to rescue people who honor him from being tried. And {the Lord also knows how} to keep those who do unrighteous deeds {ready} {in order} to punish them at the time when he judges. 10 And {he will punish} especially those who keep on doing what their sinful hearts want to do, {which are things that make them} displeasing to God. {These people} also scorn divine authority. How bold {they are}! They do whatever they wish! They are not even afraid to insult God’s glorious angels. 11 But {God’s} angels, {even though} they are much more powerful than these people, do not accuse glorious beings in an insulting manner in front of God! 12 However, these {false teachers} are like animals that cannot think rationally. According to the way they naturally behave, they were born so that others may capture and destroy them. They say bad things about things they do not even know. God will surely destroy them when it is time for their destruction. 13 {These false teachers} suffer harm as the proper punishment for their harmful deeds. {They are} pleased to party in an immoral manner {even} during the daytime. {Like} ugly stains {on one’s clothing,} {they are disgraceful to your gatherings}! {They even} celebrate their deceptive deeds while eating {a meal} with you! 14 They constantly want to have immoral sexual relations with {every} woman {they see}. They cannot stop sinning. They lure spiritually weak people {into sin}. {As athletes train for sports, these false teachers} train themselves to be greedy. {God} has cursed them! 15 They refuse to live the way God wants them to. They are acting wickedly. They are imitating what Balaam, the son of Bosor, did {long ago}. He loved {to receive money as} payment for wicked deeds. 16 However, God rebuked him for his wicked deed {against Israel}. {And even though donkeys do not speak}, God used {Balaam’s} donkey to speak to him with a human voice and stop his foolish action.
17 These {false teachers} are {useless}, {like} springs that do not give water. {They are like} clouds that the storm pushes away {before they can give rain}. {God} has reserved the darkness {of hell} for them. 18 {This is true} because they persuade people to sin who have recently {become believers and} stopped doing what wicked unbelievers do. {These false teachers do this} by speaking proud words that are not worth anything. {They persuade these people to sin} by doing whatever their sinful natures want to do. 19 {They also do this} by telling their listeners that they are free to do whatever they want while, at the same time, they themselves are controlled {by their sinful desires} that will destroy them. {This is true} because the thing that overpowers a person’s will takes control of that person. 20 And if they have stopped doing the things that defile sinful human society by knowing the one who rules over us and saves us, Jesus the Messiah, but those {defiling things} {began to} control them again, {then} their situation is worse now than {it was} at first. 21 {This is because} it would have been better for them if they had never learned how to live in the way that pleases God than to learn {this way} and reject {God’s} holy commands that {the apostles} taught them. 22 This is a true proverb {that describes} what has happened to {these false teachers}: “They are like dogs that return to eat their own vomit,” and, “They are like pigs that have washed themselves and then roll again in the mud.”