^{14 Ref} having eyes full of adultery, and who can't cease from sin; enticing unsettled souls; having a heart trained in greed; children of cursing;

^{15 Ref} forsaking the right way, they went astray, having followed the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of wrong-doing;

^{16 Ref} but he was rebuked for his own disobedience. A mute donkey spoke with man's voice and stopped the madness of the prophet.

^{17 Ref} These are wells without water, clouds driven by a storm; for whom the blackness of darkness has been reserved forever.

^{18 Ref} For, uttering great swelling words of emptiness, they entice in the lusts of the flesh, by licentiousness, those who are indeed escaping from those who live in error;

^{19 Ref} promising them liberty, while they themselves are bondservants of corruption; for by whom a man is overcome, by the same is he also brought into bondage.

^{20 Ref} For if, after they have escaped the defilement of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein and overcome, the last state has become worse with them than the first.

^{21 Ref} For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them.

^{22 Ref} But it has happened to them according to the true proverb, "The dog turns to his own vomit again," and "the sow that had washed to wallowing in the mire."