ሐሰተኛ መምህራንና መጨረሻቸው
1ነገር ግን ሐሰተኞች ነቢያት በሕዝቡ መካከል እንደ ነበሩ፣ እንዲሁም በእናንተ መካከል ሐሰተኞች መምህራን ይነሣሉ፤ እነርሱም የዋጃቸውን ጌታ እንኳ ክደው፣ ጥፋት የሚያስከትል የስሕተት ትምህርት በስውር ያስገባሉ፤ በዚህም በራሳቸው ላይ ድንገተኛ ጥፋት ያመጣሉ። 2ብዙዎች አስነዋሪ ድርጊቶቻቸውን ይከተላሉ፤ በእነርሱም ምክንያት የእውነት መንገድ ይሰደባል። 3እነዚህ ሐሰተኞች መምህራን እየተስገበገቡ በፈጠራ ታሪካቸው ይበዘብዟችኋል። ፍርዳቸው ከጥንት ጀምሮ ዝግጁ ነው፤ መጥፊያቸውም አያንቀላፋም።
4እግዚአብሔር ኀጢአት የሠሩትን መላእክት ሳይራራላቸው ወደ ገሃነም2፥4 በግሪኩ ታርታሩስ ይለዋል። ከጣላቸውና በጨለማ ጕድጓድ ውስጥ ለፍርድ ካስቀመጣቸው፣ 5የጽድቅ ሰባኪ የነበረውንም ኖኅን ከሌሎች ሰባት ሰዎች ጋር አድኖ፣ ለቀድሞው ዓለም ሳይራራ በኀጢአተኞች ላይ የጥፋት ውሃ ካመጣ፣ 6ደግሞም ኀጢአት ለሚያደርጉ ሁሉ ምሳሌ እንዲሆኑ፣ የሰዶምንና የገሞራን ከተሞች ዐመድ እስኪሆኑ ድረስ አቃጥሎ ከፈረደባቸው፣ 7ጻድቅ የሆነውንና በዐመፀኞች ሴሰኛ ድርጊት እየተሣቀቀ የኖረውን ሎጥን ካዳነ፣ 8ያ ጻድቅ ሰው በእነርሱ መካከል ሲኖር በሚያየውና በሚሰማው ነገር ነፍሱ ዕለት ዕለት በዐመፀኛ ድርጊታቸው ብትጨነቅም፣ 9ጌታ፣ በእውነት እያመለኩት የሚኖሩትን ከፈተና እንዴት እንደሚያድናቸውና ዐመፀኞችን እየቀጣ ለፍርድ2፥9 ወይም ዐመፀኞችን ለቅጣት እስከ ፍርድ ቀን ድረስ ቀን እንዴት ጠብቆ እንደሚያቈያቸው ያውቃል። 10በተለይም በርኩስ ምኞት የሥጋ ፍላጎታቸውን2፥10 ወይም የኀጢአተኛ ባሕርያቸውን የሚከተሉትንና ሥልጣንን የሚንቁትን ለፍርድ ጠብቆ ያቈያቸዋል።
እነዚህ ሰዎች ደፋሮችና እብሪተኞች ስለሆኑ ሰማያውያንን ፍጡራን ሲሳደቡ አይፈሩም፤ 11ነገር ግን መላእክት ከእነርሱ ይልቅ ብርቱና ኀያል ሆነው ሳሉ፣ በጌታ ፊት በእነርሱ ላይ የስድብ ቃል አይሰነዝሩም። 12እነዚህ ሰዎች ግን ምንም በማያውቁት ነገር እየገቡ ይሳደባሉ፤ እነርሱም ለመያዝና ለመገደል እንደ ተወለዱ፣ በስሜታቸው ብቻ እንደሚመሩና ልቦናም እንደሌላቸው አራዊት ናቸው፤ የሚጠፉትም እንደ እንስሳት ነው።
13ለዐመፃቸው የሚገባውን የዐመፅ ዋጋ ይቀበላሉ። በጠራራ ፀሓይ ሲፈነጥዙ እንደ ደስታ ይቈጥሩታል፤ በግብዣ ላይ ሳሉ ነውረኞችና ርኩሶች ሆነው ከእናንተም ጋር በፍቅር ግብዣ ላይ2፥13 በአንዳንድ ቅጆች በፍቅር ግብዣቸው ላይ የሚል የለም። ይቀመጣሉ። 14ዐይናቸው ቅንዝር የተሞላ በመሆኑ ኀጢአትን ከመሥራት አይቈጠቡም፤ ጽኑ ያልሆኑትን ነፍሳት ያስታሉ፤ ሥሥትን የለመደ ልብ አላቸው፤ የተረገሙ ናቸው! 15ቀናውን መንገድ ትተው፣ የዐመፅን ደመወዝ የወደደውን የቢዖርን ልጅ የበለዓምን መንገድ ተከትለው ስተዋል፤ 16እርሱ ግን ስለ መተላለፉ ተገሥጿል፤ መናገር የማይችል አህያ በሰው ቋንቋ ተናግሮ የነቢዩን እብደት ገታ።
17እነዚህ ሰዎች የደረቁ ምንጮችና በዐውሎ ነፋስ የሚነዱ ደመናዎች ናቸው፤ የሚጠብቃቸውም ድቅድቅ ጨለማ ነው፤ 18ከንቱ ቃል እየደረደሩ በስሕተት ከሚኖሩት መካከል አምልጠው የመጡትን ሰዎች በሴሰኛ ሥጋዊ ምኞት በማባበል ያታልላሉና። 19እነርሱ ራሳቸው የጥፋት ባሪያዎች ሆነው ሳሉ፣ ሌሎችን ነጻ ትወጣላችሁ እያሉ ተስፋ ይሰጧቸዋል፤ ሰው ለተገዛለት ለዚያ ነገር ባሪያ ነውና። 20ጌታችንንና አዳኛችንን ኢየሱስ ክርስቶስን በማወቅ ከዓለም ርኩሰት ካመለጡ በኋላ እንደ ገና ተጠላልፈው ቢሸነፉ፣ ከመጀመሪያው ይልቅ የኋለኛው ሁኔታቸው የከፋ ይሆንባቸዋል። 21የጽድቅን መንገድ ካወቁ በኋላ ከተሰጣቸው ቅዱስ ትእዛዝ ወደ ኋላ ከሚመለሱ፣ ቀድሞውኑ የጽድቅን መንገድ ባላወቋት ይሻላቸው ነበር። 22“ውሻ ወደ ትፋቱ ይመለሳል” እንዲሁም “ዐሣማ ቢታጠብም ተመልሶ በጭቃ ላይ ይንከባለላል” የሚለው ምሳሌ እውን ይሆንባቸዋል።
False Teachers and Their Destruction
1But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. 2Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. 3In their greed these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.
4For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell,2:4 Greek Tartarus putting them in chains of darkness2:4 Some manuscripts in gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment; 5if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others; 6if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; 7and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the depraved conduct of the lawless 8(for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)— 9if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment. 10This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the flesh2:10 In contexts like this, the Greek word for flesh (sarx) refers to the sinful state of human beings, often presented as a power in opposition to the Spirit; also in verse 18. and despise authority.
Bold and arrogant, they are not afraid to heap abuse on celestial beings; 11yet even angels, although they are stronger and more powerful, do not heap abuse on such beings when bringing judgment on them from2:11 Many manuscripts beings in the presence of the Lord. 12But these people blaspheme in matters they do not understand. They are like unreasoning animals, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed, and like animals they too will perish.
13They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done. Their idea of pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their pleasures while they feast with you.2:13 Some manuscripts in their love feasts 14With eyes full of adultery, they never stop sinning; they seduce the unstable; they are experts in greed—an accursed brood! 15They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Bezer,2:15 Greek Bosor who loved the wages of wickedness. 16But he was rebuked for his wrongdoing by a donkey—an animal without speech—who spoke with a human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.
17These people are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them. 18For they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of the flesh, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error. 19They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity—for “people are slaves to whatever has mastered them.” 20If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and are overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. 21It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them. 22Of them the proverbs are true: “A dog returns to its vomit,”2:22 Prov. 26:11 and, “A sow that is washed returns to her wallowing in the mud.”
