¹⁶ By their fruit you will recognize them.^(A) Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?^(B)

A Tree and Its Fruit^(A)

⁴³ “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. ⁴⁴ Each tree is recognized by its own fruit.^(B) People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. ⁴⁵ A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.^(C)

¹² My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs?^(A) Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.

³³ “Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit.^(A)

²⁰ Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

¹⁰ Yet these people slander whatever they do not understand, and the very things they do understand by instinct—as irrational animals do—will destroy them.^(A)

¹¹ Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain;^(B) they have rushed for profit into Balaam’s error;^(C) they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion.^(D)

¹² These people are blemishes at your love feasts,^(E) eating with you without the slightest qualm—shepherds who feed only themselves.^(F) They are clouds without rain,^(G) blown along by the wind;^(H) autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted^(I)—twice dead. ¹³ They are wild waves of the sea,^(J) foaming up their shame;^(K) wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.^(L)

¹⁴ Enoch,^(M) the seventh from Adam, prophesied about them: “See, the Lord is coming^(N) with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones^{(O) 15} to judge^(P) everyone, and to convict all of them of all the ungodly acts they have committed in their ungodliness, and of all the defiant words ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”^{[a](Q) 16} These people are grumblers^(R) and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires;^(S) they boast^(T) about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage.

A Call to Persevere

¹⁷ But, dear friends, remember what the apostles^(U) of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold.^{(V) 18} They said to you, “In the last times^(W) there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.”^{(X) 19} These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.^(Y)

¹⁰ This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire^(A) of the flesh^[a] and despise authority.

Bold and arrogant, they are not afraid to heap abuse on celestial beings;^{(B) 11} yet even angels, although they are stronger and more powerful, do not heap abuse on such beings when bringing judgment on them from^[b] the Lord.^{(C) 12} But 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.^(D)

¹³ They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done. Their idea of pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight.^(E) They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their pleasures while they feast with you.^{[c](F) 14} With eyes full of adultery, they never stop sinning; they seduce^(G) the unstable;^(H) they are experts in greed^(I)—an accursed brood!^{(J) 15} They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam^(K) son of Bezer,^[d] who loved the wages of wickedness. ¹⁶ But 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.^(L)

¹⁷ These people are springs without water^(M) and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them.^{(N) 18} For they mouth empty, boastful words^(O) and, by appealing to the lustful desires of the flesh, they entice people who are just escaping^(P) from those who live in error.