1But there were false prophetsalsoamong the people, evenas there shall be false teachersamongyou, who privily shall bringindamnableheresies, evendenying the Lord that boughtthem, and bring upon themselvesswiftdestruction.
2Andmany shall followtheir pernicious ways; by reason ofwhom the wayoftruth shall be evil spoken of.
3Andthroughcovetousness shall they with feignedwords make merchandise of you: whosejudgment now of a long timelingerethnot, andtheirdamnationslumberethnot.
4ForifGodsparednot the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserveduntojudgment;
5Andsparednot the oldworld, butsavedNoah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;
6Andturning the cities of SodomandGomorrha into ashescondemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly;
7AnddeliveredjustLot, vexedwith the filthyconversationof the wicked:
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(For that righteousmandwellingamongthem, in seeingandhearing, vexed his righteoussoul from daytoday with their unlawfuldeeds;)
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The Lordknoweth how to deliver the godly out oftemptations, and to reserve the unjustunto the dayofjudgment to be punished:
10Butchiefly them that walkafter the fleshin the lust of uncleanness, anddespisegovernment. Presumptuous are they, selfwilled, they are notafraid to speak evil of dignities.
11Whereasangels, which are greater inpowerandmight, bringnotrailingaccusationagainstthembefore the Lord.
12Butthese, asnaturalbrutebeasts, madeto be takenanddestroyed, speak evilof the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perishin their owncorruption;
13And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riotin the day time. Spots they are andblemishes, sporting themselveswith their owndeceivings while they feastwithyou;
14Havingeyesfull of adultery, and that cannot cease fromsin; beguilingunstablesouls: an heart they haveexercised with covetous practices; cursedchildren:
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Which have forsaken the rightway, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, wholoved the wages of unrighteousness;
16Butwasrebuked for hisiniquity: the dumbassspeakingwith man's voiceforbad the madness of the prophet.
17Thesearewells without water, clouds that arecarriedwith a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reservedforever.
18For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allurethrough the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were cleanescaped from them who liveinerror.
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While they promisethemliberty, they themselvesare the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.
20Forif after they have escaped the pollutions of the worldthrough the knowledge of the LordandSaviourJesusChrist, they areagainentangledtherein, andovercome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.
21For it had beenbetterforthemnot to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turnfrom the holycommandmentdelivered unto them.
22But it is happened unto them according to the trueproverb, The dog is turnedto his ownvomitagain; and the sow that was washedto her wallowing in the mire.