¹⁴ having eyes full of ^[a]adultery and that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls. ^(A)They have a heart trained in covetous practices, and are accursed children. ¹⁵ They have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of ^(B)Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; ¹⁶ but he was rebuked for his iniquity: a dumb donkey speaking with a man’s voice restrained the madness of the prophet.

^17 (C)These are wells without water, ^[b]clouds carried by a tempest, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness ^[c]forever.

Deceptions of False Teachers

¹⁸ For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who ^[d]have actually escaped from those who live in error. ¹⁹ While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of ^[e]corruption; ^(D)for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into ^[f]bondage.

¹¹ Woe to them! For they have gone in the way ^(A)of Cain, ^(B)have run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit, and perished ^(C)in the rebellion of Korah.

Apostates Depraved and Doomed

¹² These are ^[a]spots in your love feasts, while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried ^[b]about by the winds; late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots; ^13 (D)raging waves of the sea, ^(E)foaming up their own shame; wandering stars ^(F)for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.