2 Peter 2:10-22

10 and especially 1those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and 2despise authority. Bold and willful, they do not tremble 3as they blaspheme the glorious ones,
11 4whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a blasphemous judgment against them before the Lord.
12 5But these, like irrational animals, 6creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their destruction,
13 suffering wrong as 7the wage for their wrongdoing. They count it pleasure 8to revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions,[a] while 9they feast with you.
14 They have eyes full of adultery, 10insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts 11trained in greed. 12Accursed children!
15 Forsaking the right way, 13they have gone astray. They have followed 14the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved 15gain from wrongdoing,
16 but was rebuked for his own transgression; 16a speechless donkey spoke with human voice and restrained the prophet's madness.
17 17These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm. 18For them the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved.
18 For, 19speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely 20escaping from those who live in error.
19 They promise them 21freedom, 22but they themselves are slaves[b] of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved.
20 For if, 23after they have escaped the defilements of the world 24through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, 25the last state has become worse for them than the first.
21 For 26it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from 27the holy commandment delivered to them.
22 What the true proverb says has happened to them: "The 28dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire."

Cross References 28

  • 1. Jude 16, 18
  • 2. Jude 8; [Exodus 22:28]
  • 3. Jude 8; [Exodus 22:28]
  • 4. Jude 9
  • 5. Jude 10
  • 6. [Jeremiah 12:3; Philippians 3:19]
  • 7. ver. 15
  • 8. [Romans 13:13; 1 Thessalonians 5:7]; See James 5:5
  • 9. [1 Corinthians 11:21]
  • 10. [1 Peter 4:1]
  • 11. ver. 3; [1 Timothy 4:7]
  • 12. [Ephesians 2:3]
  • 13. Ezekiel 14:11
  • 14. Numbers 22:5, 7; Deuteronomy 23:4; Nehemiah 13:2; Jude 11; Revelation 2:14
  • 15. ver. 13
  • 16. Num. 22:21, 23, 28
  • 17. Jude 12
  • 18. Jude 13
  • 19. Jude 16
  • 20. ver. 20; 2 Peter 1:4
  • 21. Galatians 5:13; See James 1:25
  • 22. John 8:34; Romans 6:16
  • 23. ver. 18
  • 24. See 2 Peter 1:2
  • 25. Matthew 12:45
  • 26. [Ezekiel 18:24; Luke 12:47; Hebrews 6:4-6; Hebrews 10:26, 27; James 4:17]
  • 27. Romans 7:12
  • 28. Proverbs 26:11

Footnotes 2

The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.