1But false prophets also arose among the people, as false teachers will also be among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, denying even the Master who bought them, bringing on themselves swift destruction. 2Many will follow their immoral ways, and as a result, the way of the truth will be maligned. 3In covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words: whose sentence now from of old doesn’t linger, and their destruction will not slumber.
4For if God didn’t spare angels when they sinned, but cast them down to Tartarus, and committed them to pits of darkness to be reserved for judgment; 5and didn’t spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah with seven others, a preacher of righteousness, when he brought a flood on the world of the ungodly, 6and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, having made them an example to those who would live in an ungodly way, 7and delivered righteous Lot, who was very distressed by the lustful life of the wicked 8(for that righteous man dwelling among them was tormented in his righteous soul from day to day with seeing and hearing lawless deeds), 9then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment, 10but chiefly those who walk after the flesh in the lust of defilement and despise authority. Daring, self-willed, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries, 11whereas angels, though greater in might and power, don’t bring a slanderous judgment against them before the Lord. 12But these, as unreasoning creatures, born natural animals to be taken and destroyed, speaking evil in matters about which they are ignorant, will in their destroying surely be destroyed, 13receiving the wages of unrighteousness; people who count it pleasure to revel in the daytime, spots and defects, reveling in their deceit while they feast with you; 14having eyes full of adultery, and who can’t cease from sin, enticing unsettled souls, having a heart trained in greed, accursed children! 15Forsaking the right way, they went astray, having followed the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of wrongdoing; 16but he was rebuked for his own disobedience. A speechless donkey spoke with a man’s voice and stopped the madness of the prophet.
17These are wells without water, clouds driven by a storm, for whom the blackness of darkness has been reserved forever. 18For, 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; 19promising them liberty, while they themselves are bondservants of corruption; for a man is brought into bondage by whoever overcomes him.
20For if, after they have escaped the defilement of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in it and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. 21For 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. 22But it has happened to them according to the true proverb, “The dog turns to his own vomit again,” and “the sow that has washed to wallowing in the mire.”
The meaning of the "sons of God," in this passage has been interpreted three ways: 1) Angels, 2) kings and rulers, and 3) the people of God. The first option draws the interpreter’s attention as follows: Around the second century B.C. the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, translates the “sons of God” in Gen 6:2 as “angels.” 1 Enoch, a Jewish apocryphal literature of the second century B.C., quoted by Jude, also interprets Gen 6:1-4 in terms of the fallen angel’s cohabitation with human women. This view appears to have been held by all of the church fathers prior to St. Augustine. This option is perhaps most appealing in light of the New Testament because the New Testament authors refer to the concept of fallen angels in 2 Pet 2:4 and Jude 6, and its usage in Job 1:6. While 2 Pet 2:4 speaks only of some angels in the days of Noah committing a sin that brought them under God's judgment, the writer Jude provides the nature of the sin that Peter mentions, that it was sexual in nature, as was the sin of Sodom (use of the comparative ὡς in Greek). This option, however, does not answer the question of why God punished men by the Flood if the sons of God were angels unless the text in Genesis speaks of angels who were fallen angels who had already fallen or fell into sin by this act. Furthermore, God bestowed procreative power on animals and humanity (Gen 1:22, 28), not angels. In fact, Jesus denied angels’ procreative ability (Matt 22:30), but this might only speak of angels when they are incorporeal. When angels take on human form, as in Genesis 18 (one, Yahweh Himself), who interacted with Abraham, had their feet washed, and ate a meal with Abraham, it is possible they had other human capabilities.
A second option is that human kings and rulers took any woman of their choice (single or married) for royal harems. In this case, the source of moral decay was the tyrants' polygamy and abuse of power. A difficulty is that the larger context of this text reveals that this text is not about decadent kingship but the moral corruption of humanity as a whole.
The third option views the "sons of God" as the godly men in the lineage of Seth (Gen 4:24-5:32), a view first held by the church father, Augustine. Gen 4:26 deliberately mentions that people during the time of Seth's son Enosh began to call on the name of Yahweh. The "daughters of men" here refer to the ungodly descendants of Cain (Gen 4:17-24). The larger context which leads to this text sets forth the genealogies of godly people (the people of God) and ungodly people (Cainites) and the present text accounts for the fall of the human race in terms of this ungodly union.