GOD's Word: Warnings

False prophets were among GOD’s people ⌞in the past⌟, as false teachers will be among you. They will secretly bring in their own destructive teachings. They will deny the LORD, who has bought them, and they will bring themselves swift destruction. Many people will follow them in their sexual freedom and will cause others to dishonor the way of truth. In their greed, they will use good-sounding arguments to exploit you. The verdict against them from long ago is still in force, and their destruction is not asleep. GOD didn’t spare angels who sinned. He threw them into hell, where He has secured them with chains of darkness and is holding them for judgment. GOD didn’t spare the ancient world either. He brought the flood on the world of ungodly people, but He protected Noah and seven other people. Noah was His messenger who told people about the kind of life that has GOD’s approval. GOD condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and destroyed them by burning them to ashes. He made those cities an example to ungodly people of what is going to happen to them. Yet, GOD rescued Lot, a man who had His approval. Lot was distressed by the lifestyle of people who had no principles and lived in sexual freedom. Although he was a man who had GOD’s approval, he lived among the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. Each day was like torture to him as he saw and heard the immoral things that people did. Since the LORD did all this, He knows how to rescue godly people when they are tested. He also knows how to hold immoral people for punishment on the day of judgment. This is especially true of those who follow their corrupt nature along the path of impure desires and who despise the LORD’s authority. These false teachers are bold and arrogant. They aren’t afraid to insult the ⌞LORD’s⌟ glory. Angels, who have more strength and power than these teachers, don’t bring an insulting judgment against them from the LORD. These false teachers insult what they don’t understand. They are like animals, which are creatures of instinct that are born to be caught and killed. So they will be destroyed like animals and lose what their wrongdoing earned them. These false teachers are stains and blemishes. They take pleasure in holding wild parties in broad daylight. They especially enjoy deceiving you while they eat with you. They’re always looking for an adulterous woman. They can’t stop looking for sin as they seduce people who aren’t sure of what they believe. Their minds are focused on their greed. They are cursed. These false teachers have left the straight path and wandered off to follow the path of Balaam, son of Beor. Balaam loved what his wrongdoing earned him. But he was convicted for his evil. A donkey, which normally can’t talk, spoke with a human voice and wouldn’t allow the prophet to continue his insanity. These false teachers are dried-up springs. They are a mist blown around by a storm. Gloomy darkness has been kept for them. They arrogantly use nonsense to seduce people by appealing to their sexual desires, especially to sexual freedom. They seduce people who have just escaped from those who live in error. They promise these people freedom, but they themselves are slaves to corruption. A person is a slave to whatever he gives in to. People can know our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and escape the world’s filth. But if they get involved in this filth again and give in to it, they are worse off than they were before. It would have been better for them never to have known the way of life that GOD approves of than to know it and turn their backs on the holy life GOD told them to live. These proverbs have come true for them: “A dog goes back to its vomit,” and “A sow that has been washed goes back to roll around in the mud.”
2 Peter 2:1‭-‬22 GW
https://bible.com/bible/70/2pe.2.1-22.GW


Contemporary English Version: False Prophets & Teachers

Sometimes 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. Many people will follow their evil ways and cause others to tell lies about the true way. They will be greedy and cheat you with smooth talk. But long ago GOD decided to punish them, and GOD doesn't sleep. GOD 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. And 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. GOD punished the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and this is a warning to anyone else who wants to sin. Lot 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. This 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. The 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. Although angels are more powerful than these evil beings, even the angels don't dare to accuse them to the LORD. These 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. They 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 spoiled by the shameful and selfish way they carry on. All 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! They 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 crook. But a donkey corrected him for this evil deed. It spoke to him with a human voice and made him stop his foolishness. These people are like dried up water holes and clouds blown by a windstorm. The darkest part of hell is waiting for them. They brag 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. They promise freedom to everyone. But they are merely slaves of filthy living, because people are slaves of whatever controls them. When they learned about our Lord and Savior 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 worse shape than they were at first. They 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 they were given. What happened to them is just like the true saying, “A dog will come back to lick up its own vomit. A pig that has been washed will roll in the mud.”
2 Peter 2:1‭-‬22 CEV
https://bible.com/bible/392/2pe.2.1-22.CEV


The Passion Translation: False Prophets, False Teachers, And Their Arrogance


In the past there arose false prophets among GOD’s people, just as there will continue to be false teachers who will secretly infiltrate in your midst to divide you, bringing with them their destructive heresies. They will even deny the Master, who paid the price for them, bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow immoral lifestyles. Because of these corrupt false teachers, the way of truth will be slandered. They are only out for themselves, ready to exploit you for their own gain through their cunning arguments. Their condemnation has been a long time coming. But their destruction does not slumber or sit idly by, for it is sure to come. Now, don’t forget, GOD had no pity for the angels when they sinned but threw them into the lowest, darkest dungeon of gloom and locked them in chains, where they are firmly held until the judgment of torment. And He did not spare the former world in the days of Noah when He sent a flood to destroy a depraved world (although He protected Noah, the preacher of righteousness, along with seven members of his family). And don’t forget that He reduced to ashes the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, condemning them to ruin and destruction. GOD appointed them to be examples as to what is coming to the ungodly. Yet He rescued a righteous man, Lot, suffering the indignity of the unbridled lusts of the lawless. For righteous Lot lived among them day after day, distressed in his righteous soul by the rebellious deeds he saw and heard. If the LORD YAHWEH rescued Lot, He knows how to continually rescue the godly from their trials and to reserve the ungodly for punishment on the day of judgment. And this especially applies to those who live their lives despising authorities and who abandon themselves to chasing the depraved lusts of their flesh. They are willfully arrogant and insolent, unafraid to insult the glorious ones. Yet even angels, who are greater than they in power and strength, do not dare slander them before the LORD. These individuals are nothing but brute beasts—irrational creatures, born in the wild to be caught and destroyed—and they will perish like beasts. They are professional insulters, who slander whatever they don’t understand, and in their destruction they will be destroyed. For all the evil they have done will come crashing down on them. They consider it their great pleasure to carouse in broad daylight. When they come to your love feasts they are but stains and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions as they feast with you. They are addicted to adultery, with eyes that are insatiable, with sins that never end. They seduce the vulnerable and are experts in their greed—they are but children of a curse! They have wandered off the main road and have gone astray, because they are prophets who love profit—the wages they earn by wrongdoing. They are following the example of Balaam, son of Beor, who was rebuked for evil by a donkey incapable of speech yet that spoke with a human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness. These people are dried-up riverbeds, waterless clouds pushed along by stormy winds—the deepest darkness of gloom has been prepared for them. They spout off with their grandiose, impressive nonsense. Consumed with the lusts of the flesh, they lure back into sin those who recently escaped from their error. They promise others freedom, yet they themselves are slaves to corruption, for people are slaves to whatever overcomes them. Those who escape the corrupting forces of this world system through the experience of knowing about our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Messiah, then go back into entanglement with them and are defeated by them, becoming worse off than they were to start with. It would have been much better for them never to have experienced the way of righteousness than to know it and then turn away from the sacred obligation that was given to them. They become illustrations of the true proverb: A dog will return to his own vomit and a washed pig to its rolling in the mud.
2 Peter 2:1‭-‬22 TPT
https://bible.com/bible/1849/2pe.2.1-22.TPT


Easy Reading Version:


In 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. Many 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. These 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. When 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. And 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. GOD 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. But He saved Lot, a good man who lived there. Lot was greatly troubled by the morally bad lives of those evil people. This good man lived with those evil people every day, and his good heart was hurt by the evil things he saw and heard. So 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. That 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. The 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. But 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. They 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. Every 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. These 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. But 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. These 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. They 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. These 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. People 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. Yes, 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. What they did is like these true sayings: “A dog vomits and goes back to what it threw up.” And, “After a pig is washed, it goes back and rolls in the mud again.”
2 Peter 2:1‭-‬22 ERV
https://bible.com/bible/406/2pe.2.1-22.ERV


New Living Translation: False Prophets & False Teachers


But there were also false prophets in Israel, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will cleverly teach destructive heresies and even deny the Master who bought them. In this way, they will bring sudden destruction on themselves. Many will follow their evil teaching and shameful immorality. And because of these teachers, the way of truth will be slandered. In their greed they will make up clever lies to get hold of your money. But GOD condemned them long ago, and their destruction will not be delayed. For GOD did not spare even the angels who sinned. He threw them into hell, in gloomy pits of darkness, where they are being held until the day of judgment. And GOD did not spare the ancient world—except for Noah and the seven others in his family. Noah warned the world of GOD’s righteous judgment. So GOD protected Noah when He destroyed the world of ungodly people with a vast flood. Later, GOD condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and turned them into heaps of ashes. He made them an example of what will happen to ungodly people. But GOD also rescued Lot out of Sodom because he was a righteous man who was sick of the shameful immorality of the wicked people around him. Yes, Lot was a righteous man who was tormented in his soul by the wickedness he saw and heard day after day. So you see, the LORD knows how to rescue godly people from their trials, even while keeping the wicked under punishment until the day of final judgment. He is especially hard on those who follow their own twisted sexual desire, and who despise authority. These people are proud and arrogant, daring even to scoff at supernatural beings without so much as trembling. But the angels, who are far greater in power and strength, do not dare to bring from the LORD a charge of blasphemy against those supernatural beings. These false teachers are like unthinking animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed. They scoff at things they do not understand, and like animals, they will be destroyed. Their destruction is their reward for the harm they have done. They love to indulge in evil pleasures in broad daylight. They are a disgrace and a stain among you. They delight in deception even as they eat with you in your fellowship meals. They commit adultery with their eyes, and their desire for sin is never satisfied. They lure unstable people into sin, and they are well trained in greed. They live under GOD’s curse. They have wandered off the right road and followed the footsteps of Balaam son of Beor, who loved to earn money by doing wrong. But Balaam was stopped from his mad course when his donkey rebuked him with a human voice. These people are as useless as dried-up springs or as mist blown away by the wind. They are doomed to blackest darkness. They brag about themselves with empty, foolish boasting. With an appeal to twisted sexual desires, they lure back into sin those who have barely escaped from a lifestyle of deception. They promise freedom, but they themselves are slaves of sin and corruption. For you are a slave to whatever controls you. And when people escape from the wickedness of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and then get tangled up and enslaved by sin again, they are worse off than before. It would be better if they had never known the way to righteousness than to know it and then reject the command they were given to live a holy life. They prove the truth of this proverb: “A dog returns to its vomit.” And another says, “A washed pig returns to the mud.”
2 Peter 2:1‭-‬22 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/2pe.2.1-22.NLT


The Message: Lying Prophets & Lying Teachers

But there were also lying prophets among the people then, just as there will be lying religious teachers among you. They’ll smuggle in destructive divisions, pitting you against each other—biting the hand of the One who gave them a chance to have their lives back! They’ve put themselves on a fast downhill slide to destruction, but not before they recruit a crowd of mixed-up followers who can’t tell right from wrong. They give the way of truth a bad name. They’re only out for themselves. They’ll say anything, anything, that sounds good to exploit you. They won’t, of course, get by with it. They’ll come to a bad end, for GOD has never just stood by and let that kind of thing go on. GOD didn’t let the rebel angels off the hook, but jailed them in hell till Judgment Day. Neither did He let the ancient ungodly world off. He wiped it out with a flood, rescuing only eight people—Noah, the sole voice of righteousness, was one of them. GOD decreed destruction for the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. A mound of ashes was all that was left—grim warning to anyone bent on an ungodly life. But that good man Lot, driven nearly out of his mind by the sexual filth and perversity, was rescued. Surrounded by moral rot day after day after day, that righteous man was in constant torment. So GOD knows how to rescue the godly from evil trials. And He knows how to hold the feet of the wicked to the fire until Judgment Day. GOD is especially incensed against these “teachers” who live by lust, addicted to a filthy existence. They despise interference from true authority, preferring to indulge in self-rule. Insolent egotists, they don’t hesitate to speak evil against the most splendid of creatures. Even angels, their superiors in every way, wouldn’t think of throwing their weight around like that, trying to slander others before GOD. These people are nothing but brute beasts, born in the wild, predators on the prowl. In the very act of bringing down others with their ignorant blasphemies, they themselves will be brought down, losers in the end. Their evil will boomerang on them. They’re so despicable and addicted to pleasure that they indulge in wild parties, carousing in broad daylight. They’re obsessed with adultery, compulsive in sin, seducing every vulnerable soul they come upon. Their specialty is greed, and they’re experts at it. Dead souls! They’ve left the main road and are directionless, having taken the way of Balaam, son of Beor, the prophet who turned profiteer, a connoisseur of evil. But Balaam was stopped in his wayward tracks: A dumb animal spoke in a human voice and prevented the prophet’s craziness. There’s nothing to these people—they’re dried-up fountains, storm-scattered clouds, headed for a black hole in hell. They are loudmouths, full of hot air, but still they’re dangerous. Men and women who have recently escaped from a deviant life are most susceptible to their brand of seduction. They promise these newcomers freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption, for if they’re addicted to corruption—and they are—they’re enslaved. If they’ve escaped from the slum of sin by experiencing our Master and Savior, Jesus Christ, and then slid back into that same old life again, they’re worse than if they had never left. Better not to have started out on the straight road to GOD than to start out and then turn back, repudiating the experience and the holy command. They prove the point of the proverbs, “A dog goes back to its own vomit” and “A scrubbed-up pig heads for the mud.”
2 Peter 2:1‭-‬2‭, ‬2‭-‬22 MSG
https://bible.com/bible/97/2pe.2.1-22.MSG 

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