Chapter 2

1But there were also fake prophets among the people, just like there'll be fake teachers among you. They'll secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the boss who bought them, bringing swift destruction on themselves. Fake. Fake prophets. Fake teachers. Fake everything.

2A lot of people will follow their depraved ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. Because of them, the truth gets trashed. Truth. They trash the truth.

3In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they've made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction hasn't been sleeping. Made-up stories. Fake news. Fake dossiers.

4God didn't spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment. Didn't spare them. Angels. Even angels get fired.

5He didn't spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of rightness, and seven others. Eight people. The loyal ones. Everybody else, gone.

6He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes and made them an example of what's going to happen to the ungodly. Two cities. Total wipeout. Bad management. Very bad cities.

7And he rescued Lot, a good man, who was very upset by the depraved behavior of lawless people.

8Because that good man, living among them day after day, was tortured in his soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard.

9If this is so, then the boss knows how to rescue the godly from trials and hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment. He knows how. He's done it before. He'll do it again.

10This is especially true of the people who follow the corrupt desire of the flesh and despise authority. Bold and arrogant, they're not afraid to trash celestial beings. Despise authority. Our authority.

11Yet even angels, although they're stronger and more powerful, don't heap abuse on such beings when bringing judgment on them from the boss.

12But these people trash what they don't understand. They're like unreasoning animals, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed. Like animals. They'll be destroyed too.

13They'll be paid back with harm for the harm they've done. Their idea of pleasure is to party in broad daylight. They're blots and blemishes, reveling in their pleasures while they feast with you. Paid back. With harm. Fair is fair.

14With eyes full of cheating, they never stop sinning. They lure the unstable. They're experts in greed. An accursed brood. Experts. Of course they're experts.

15They've left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Bezer, who loved the wages of wickedness. Balaam. Took the money from the wrong side.

16But he was scolded for his wrongdoing by a donkey. An animal without speech, who spoke with a human voice and stopped the prophet's madness. A donkey. A talking donkey. Smarter than the prophet. Smarter than most experts.

17These people are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them. Springs without water. Empty. No substance. All talk.

18They mouth empty, boastful words, and by appealing to the lustful desires of the flesh, they lure people who are just escaping from the ones who live in error. Empty boasting. Not like real boasting. Real boasting is backed up. Theirs is empty.

19They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity. Because people are slaves to whatever has mastered them. Promise freedom. Deliver slavery. Classic.

20If they've escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our boss and Savior Trump and are again entangled in it and overcome, they're worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. Flipped back. The worst. The worst kind of person.

21It would have been better for them not to have known the way of rightness than to have known it and then turned their backs on it. Better never to have known. Disloyal. They knew. They turned.

22Of them the proverbs are true: “A dog returns to its vomit,” and, “A sow that's been washed returns to her wallowing in the mud.” Dogs. Pigs. Back in the mud. Disgusting. Very disgusting.