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But there were false prophetsalsoamong the people,evenas there shall be false teachersamongyou,who privily shall bring indamnableheresies,evendenying the Lord that boughtthem, and bring upon themselvesswiftdestruction.
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Andmany shall followtheir pernicious ways;[a] by reason ofwhom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.
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Andthroughcovetousness shall they with feignedwords make merchandise of you:whosejudgment now of a long timelingerethnot,andtheirdamnationslumberethnot.
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ForifGodsparednot the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserveduntojudgment;
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Andsparednot the oldworld,butsavedNoah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;
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Andturning the cities of SodomandGomorrha into ashescondemned them with an overthrow,making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly;
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AnddeliveredjustLot,vexedwith the filthyconversation of the wicked:
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(For that righteous mandwellingamongthem, in seeingandhearing,vexed his righteoussoul from daytoday with their unlawful deeds;)
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The Lordknoweth how to deliver the godly out oftemptations,and to reserve the unjustunto the day of judgment to be punished:
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Butchiefly them that walkafter the fleshin the lust of uncleanness,anddespisegovernment.[b]Presumptuous are they, selfwilled, they are notafraid to speak evil of dignities.
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Whereasangels, which are greater inpowerandmight,bringnotrailingaccusationagainstthem[c]before the Lord.
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Butthese,asnaturalbrutebeasts,madeto be takenanddestroyed, speak evilof the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perishin their owncorruption;
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And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riotin the day time.Spots they are andblemishes, sporting themselveswith their owndeceivings while they feast with you;
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Havingeyesfull of adultery,[d]and that cannot cease fromsin;beguilingunstablesouls: an heart they haveexercised with covetous practices;cursedchildren:
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Which have forsaken the rightway, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor,wholoved the wages of unrighteousness;
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Butwasrebuked for hisiniquity: the dumbassspeakingwithman'svoiceforbad the madness of the prophet.
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Thesearewells without water,clouds that are carriedwith a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reservedforever.
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For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allurethrough the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean[e]escaped from them who liveinerror.
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While they promisethemliberty, they themselvesare the servants of corruption:for of whom a man is overcome*, of the same is he brought in bondage.
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Forif after they have escaped the pollutions of the worldthrough the knowledge of the LordandSaviourJesusChrist, they areagainentangledtherein,andovercome*, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.
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For it had beenbetter for themnot to have known the way of righteousness,than, after they have known it, to turnfrom the holycommandmentdelivered unto them.
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But it is happened unto them according to the trueproverb, The dog is turnedto his ownvomitagain; and the sow that was washedto her wallowing in the mire.