1But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves.
1從前在百姓中有假先知起來，將來在你們中間也必有假師傅，私自引進陷害人的異端，連買他們的主他們也不承認，自取速速的滅亡。
2Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned;
2將有許多人隨從他們邪淫的行為，便叫真道因他們的緣故被毀謗。
3and in [their] greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.
3他們因有貪心，要用捏造的言語在你們身上取利。他們的刑罰，自古以來並不遲延；他們的滅亡也必速速來到（原文是不打盹）。
4For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment;
4就是天使犯了罪，神也沒有寬容，曾把他們丟在地獄，交在黑暗坑中，等候審判。
5and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly;
5神也沒有寬容上古的世代，曾叫洪水臨到那不敬虔的世代，卻保護了傳義道的挪亞一家八口。
6and [if] He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing [them] to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly [lives] thereafter;
6又判定所多瑪、蛾摩拉，將二城傾覆，焚燒成灰，作為後世不敬虔人的鑑戒；
7and [if] He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men
7只搭救了那常為惡人淫行憂傷的義人羅得。
8(for by what he saw and heard [that] righteous man, while living among them, felt [his] righteous soul tormented day after day by [their] lawless deeds),
8（因為那義人住在他們中間，看見聽見他們不法的事，他的義心就天天傷痛。）
9[then] the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment,
9主知道搭救敬虔的人脫離試探，把不義的人留在刑罰之下，等候審判的日子。
10and especially those who indulge the flesh in [its] corrupt desires and despise authority. Daring, self-willed, they do not tremble when they revile angelic majesties,
10那些隨肉身、縱污穢的情慾、輕慢主治之人的，更是如此。他們膽大任性，毀謗在尊位的，也不知懼怕。
11whereas angels who are greater in might and power do not bring a reviling judgment against them before the Lord.
11就是天使，雖然力量權能更大，還不用毀謗的話在主面前告他們。
12But these, like unreasoning animals, born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, reviling where they have no knowledge, will in the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed,
12但這些人好像沒有靈性，生來就是畜類，以備捉拿宰殺的。他們毀謗所不曉得的事，正在敗壞人的時候，自己必遭遇敗壞。
13suffering wrong as the wages of doing wrong. They count it a pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are stains and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, as they carouse with you,
13行的不義，就得了不義的工價。這些人喜愛白晝宴樂，他們已被玷污，又有瑕疵，正與你們一同坐席，就以自己的詭詐為快樂。
14having eyes full of adultery that never cease from sin, enticing unstable souls, having a heart trained in greed, accursed children;
14他們滿眼是淫色（原文是淫婦），止不住犯罪，引誘那心不堅固的人，心中習慣了貪婪，正是被咒詛的種類。
15forsaking the right way, they have gone astray, having followed the way of Balaam, the [son] of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;
15他們離棄正路，就走差了，隨從比珥之子巴蘭的路。巴蘭就是那貪愛不義之工價的先知，
16but he received a rebuke for his own transgression, [for] a mute donkey, speaking with a voice of a man, restrained the madness of the prophet.
16他卻為自己的過犯受了責備；那不能說話的驢以人言攔阻先知的狂妄。
17These are springs without water and mists driven by a storm, for whom the black darkness has been reserved.
17這些人是無水的井，是狂風催逼的霧氣，有墨黑的幽暗為他們存留。
18For speaking out arrogant [words] of vanity they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones who live in error,
18他們說虛妄矜誇的大話，用肉身的情慾和邪淫的事引誘那些剛才脫離妄行的人。
19promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved.
19他們應許人得以自由，自己卻作敗壞的奴僕，因為人被誰制伏就是誰的奴僕。
20For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first.
20倘若他們因認識主─救主耶穌基督，得以脫離世上的污穢，後來又在其中被纏住、制伏，他們末後的景況就比先前更不好了。
21For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment handed on to them.
21他們曉得義路，竟背棄了傳給他們的聖命，倒不如不曉得為妙。
22It has happened to them according to the true proverb, 'A DOG RETURNS TO ITS OWN VOMIT,' and, 'A sow, after washing, [returns] to wallowing in the mire.'
22俗語說得真不錯：狗所吐的，他轉過來又吃；豬洗淨了又回到泥裡去輥；這話在他們身上正合式。