²³ He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.

²¹ Doth not their excellency which is in them go away? they die, even without wisdom.

¹² But if they obey not, they shall perish by the sword, and they shall die without knowledge.

²¹ The lips of the righteous feed many: but fools die for want of wisdom.

¹² So I gave them up unto their own hearts' lust: and they walked in their own counsels.

¹⁴ The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways: and a good man shall be satisfied from himself.

³² The wicked is driven away in his wickedness: but the righteous hath hope in his death.

¹⁵ Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;

¹⁶ But was rebuked for his iniquity: the dumb ass speaking with man's voice forbad the madness of the prophet.

¹⁷ These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever.

¹⁸ For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error.

¹⁹ While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.

²⁰ For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.

²¹ For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.

²² But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.