2 Peter 2:18 - Plain English Version

^18-19 That mob teach with words that sound good, but they are useless. They say we are free now, so we can do anything we like. They say that it is all right to do bad things. That is what they teach, but it is wrong. You know, there are some people that used to go wrong, but then they turned around and started to go right. But now those liars are tricking them and getting them to go wrong again. Those liars tell them that they can do any bad things they like, to get their bodies to feel good. Those liars promise to free people, but they themselves are not free. They can’t stop themselves from doing bad and dirty things. It’s like this. If somebody can’t stop themselves from doing something, that thing is their boss and they have to work for it. So it’s like those bad things are their boss. They are not free.

More versions

King James Version (Oxford) 1769

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.

Amplified Bible - Classic Edition

¹⁸ For uttering loud boasts of folly, they beguile and lure with lustful desires of the flesh those who are barely escaping from them who are wrongdoers.

American Standard Version (1901)

¹⁸ For, uttering great swelling words of vanity, they entice in the lusts of the flesh, by lasciviousness, those who are just escaping from them that live in error;

Common English Bible

¹⁸ With empty, self-important speech, they use sinful cravings and unrestrained immorality to ensnare people who have only just escaped life with those who have wandered from the truth.

Catholic Public Domain Version

¹⁸ For, speaking with the arrogance of vanity, they lure, by the desires of fleshly pleasures, those who are fleeing to some extent, who are being turned from error,

2 Peter 2:18 Cross References

Acts 2:40

And Peter told them a lot more things to be careful about. He kept on telling them, “Let God save you, so that he will not punish you along with all the people that do bad things and don’t want Jesus.”

Acts 8:9

A man that used to do magic lived in that town in Samaria. His name was Simon. He did that magic for a long time before Philip went there. Everyone there was surprised by the things he did. He used to say, “I am a great man.”

Romans 13:13

We have to do things that are right and good and honest, like the things people do in the day-light. We can’t go to wild grog parties, and we can’t get drunk. We can’t sleep with anyone that is not our own wife or husband, as if we are married to them. We can’t do wrong things with our bodies. We can’t get into fights and arguments. We can’t be jealous of other people.

Ephesians 4:17

I’m telling you this message that our leader, Jesus, wants me to tell you, so you have to take notice of it. Don’t live any more like the people that don’t know God. They can’t think straight.

2 Thessalonians 2:4

He will reckon that he is better than God. He will fight against God, and against everything else that people think is a god. He will fight against everything that people respect in a spiritual way. He will even go into God’s ceremony house and sit down there, and tell everyone that he is God.

James 5:5

While you lived here on this earth, you killed good people that couldn’t fight back. You lied and said they were guilty, and then you killed them. While you were doing that, you got everything you wanted, and you had plenty to eat. You are fat now, but look out. God will kill you. Think about a farmer and his cow. He feeds that cow a lot of grass and makes it fat, then he kills it to get some meat. Well, that is a picture of you. You are fat now, but God will kill you.

2 Peter 1:4

And he promised us some very important things, and they are very special to us. He promised that we can think the way he thinks, so that we become really good people. He says that we can get away from bad things. We are not like the people that belong to this world. They want to do bad things, then they go and do those bad things, and they become bad people. But God says that we can get away from all that.

2 Peter 2:14

They are always looking for a woman to sleep with, like a man sleeps with his wife. They do bad things, and they keep looking for more bad things to do. If somebody doesn’t strongly trust Christ, those people will trick that person and get them to go wrong. They are really greedy, wanting lots of money and things. They are the sort of people that God says he will properly punish.

2 Peter 2:2

Those liars will teach people to do bad things, and a lot of people will listen to them and do those bad and dirty things. And if people that are not Christians see that, they will rubbish God and his true way.

2 Peter 2:20

Jesus Christ is our leader, and he is the one that saves us. At one time, those liars knew Jesus, and he helped them get away from the dirty things that the people in this world do. But now they are leaving him, and they are getting mixed up again with those bad things. Those bad things are now their boss, and they are worse off now than before.

2 Peter 3:17

But, my friends, you know these things already. So be very careful. Don’t believe the lies that those bad people say. Don’t let them lead you away from God. If you listen to them, you might stop being sure about the true things.

Jude 1:13

And those lying teachers are like a storm in the sea. The water washes around, and a lot of rubbish comes up to the top of the sea. That rubbish is like a picture of all the bad, dirty things that mob does. And those lying teachers are like stars that moved away from their proper place in the sky. Those lying teachers don’t do the things God wants them to do. So God made a dark, black place for them, and he will put them there, and they will stay there for ever.