2Peter:2

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Seeker Overlay ON

* But there were also false prophets among the people , even as there will be false teachers among you ; who will privately introduce destructive sects , denying even the Lord who bought them , bringing on themselves swift destruction . * And many will follow their lewd practices , on account of whom , they way of truth will be evil spoken of . * And through covetousness , they will make merchandise of you , by fictitious tales : to whom the punishment threatened of old lingers not , and their destruction slumbers not . * For God , indeed , did not spare the angels who sinned , but with chains of darkness confining them in Tartarus , delivered them over to be kept for judgment ; * and did not spare the old world , but saved Noah , the eighth , a proclaimer of righteousness , when he brought the flood upon the world of the ungodly ; * and having reduced to ashes the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah , punished them with an overthrow , making them an example to those who should afterward live ungodly : * and rescued righteous Lot , exceedingly grieved by the lewd behavior of the lawless : * (for ; -that righteous man , dwelling among them , by the sight and report of their unlawful deeds , tormented his righteous soul from day to day ;) * the Lord knows how to rescue the godly out of temptation , and to reserve the unrighteous to a day of judgment to be punished ; * but especially those who go after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness , and who despise government : being audacious , self-willed , who fear not to revile dignitaries ; * whereas , angels , who are greater in strength and power , do not bring a reviling accusation against them before the Lord . * But these , as natural , irrational animals , made for capture and destruction , speaking evil of matters which they do not understand , shall be utterly destroyed by their own corruptions ; * receiving the due reward of unrighteousness . These delight to spend the day in luxurious festivity : they are spots and blemishes , reveling in their deceits when they feast with you ; * having eyes full of the adulteress , incessantly sinning , alluring unstable souls ; having a heart exercised with insatiable desires ; an accursed progeny : * having forsaken the right path , they have wandered , following in the way of Balaam , the son of Bosor , who loved the wages of iniquity , * and was convicted of his transgression ; the dumb brute , speaking with man 's voice , reprimanded the madness of the prophet . * These are wells without water , clouds driven by a tempest ; for whom the blackness of darkness is reserved forever : * for , speaking great swelling words of falsehood , they allure by the lusts of the flesh , even by lasciviousness , those who have actually fled away from them who are living in error . * They promise them liberty , whilst they themselves are slaves of corruption : for every one is enslaved by that which overcomes him . * Now , if , having fled away from the pollutions of the world , through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ , and being again entangled , they are overcome by them ; their last condition is worse than the first . * Therefore , it has been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness , than having known it , turn away from the holy commandment delivered to them . * «But the saying of the true proverb has happened to them :» 'The dog is returned to his own vomit ; and the washed hog , to its wallowing in the mire .'

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