¹⁵ These false teachers have left the way which is good and right. Like Balaam, Beor's son, they have gone the wrong way. Balaam wanted money so much that he did wrong things to get it. ¹⁶ But a donkey told him that he was not obeying God. We know that donkeys cannot talk. But that donkey spoke with a human voice. It stopped the prophet Balaam from doing more crazy things.^[a]

¹⁷ These false teachers promise good things that will never happen. They are like a dry well that has no water. They are like clouds in a storm which the wind blows away so that no rain comes. God will certainly send them to the darkest place in hell. He has kept that place ready for them.