EasyEnglish Bible 2018
2 Peter 2:17
17These false teachers promise good things that will never happen. They are like a dry well that has no water. They are like clouds in a storm which the wind blows away so that no rain comes. God will certainly send them to the darkest place in hell. He has kept that place ready for them.
2 Peter 2:17 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever.
- New International Version (NIV)These people are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them.
- English Standard Version (ESV)These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm. For them the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved.
- New King James Version (NKJV)These are wells without water, clouds carried by a tempest, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.
Context of 2 Peter 2:17
15These false teachers have left the way which is good and right. Like Balaam, Beor's son, they have gone the wrong way. Balaam wanted money so much that he did wrong things to get it. 16But a donkey told him that he was not obeying God. We know that donkeys cannot talk. But that donkey spoke with a human voice. It stopped the prophet Balaam from doing more crazy things. These false teachers promise good things that will never happen. They are like a dry well that has no water. They are like clouds in a storm which the wind blows away so that no rain comes. God will certainly send them to the darkest place in hell. He has kept that place ready for them. 18The messages that these teachers speak seem very important. But their words really mean nothing. In that way, they lead people away from God. Some people have not been believers for very long. They have only just become free from the wrong things that people do. But the false teachers tell these people to do bad things that will make them happy. 19The false teachers tell these believers to do whatever they want to do. They promise that this will make them really free. But the false teachers themselves are not free. Instead, they are like slaves. They cannot stop doing the bad things that will destroy them. We know that if something has power over a person, then that person is its slave.
Read all of 2 Peter 22 Peter 2:17 word by word
οὗτοί εἰσιν πηγαὶ ἄνυδροι καὶ ὁμίχλαι ὑπὸ λαίλαπος ἐλαυνόμεναι, οἷς ὁ ζόφος τοῦ σκότους τετήρηται.¶Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
- Theseοὗτοςhoutos houtoi hautē hautai · this/he/she/itG3778
- areεἰμίeimi · to beG1510
- wellsπηγήpēgē · flowG4077
- without waterἄνυδροςanudros · waterlessG504
- cloudsνεφέληnephelē · cloudG3507
- that are carriedἐλαύνωelaunō · to driveG1643
- withὑπόhupo · by/under: byG5259
- a tempestλαῖλαψlailaps · stormG2978
- to whomὅςhos hē ho · whichG3739
- the mistὁho hē to · the/this/whoG3588
- the mistζόφοςzophos · darknessG2217
- of darknessσκότοςskotos · darknessG4655
- is reservedτηρέωtēreō · to keep: guardG5083
- forεἰςeis · towardG1519
- everαἰώνaiōn · an age: ageG165
Cross-references for 2 Peter 2:17
- Job 6:14When a man has no hope, his friends should be kind to him. They should help him, even if he no longer respects God Almighty.
- Jeremiah 14:3Rich people send their servants to get water. They go to the wells, but they do not find any water. They return home with empty water jars. They are ashamed and upset. They hide their faces in their hands.
- Hosea 6:4‘People of Ephraim and Judah, can I forgive you so easily? Your love for me soon disappears. It goes away as quickly as mist or dew in the morning.
- Jude 1:12When you eat special meals together as believers, those false teachers meet with you. But they are dangerous! They will stop you showing your love for one another. They come only because they want to eat too much. They do not respect God or other people. They only think about themselves and they are not ashamed. They are like clouds that you think will bring rain. But the wind blows those clouds along and there is no rain. They are like trees that have no fruit, even at the time for harvest. People pull trees like that out of the ground. They are completely dead and can give no fruit.
- Ephesians 4:14So then we will not be like children any more. Our minds will not become confused by strange ideas. We will not change what we believe, from one thing to another. Some people teach things that are not true. They do clever things to deceive people. But we will not agree with their false message.
- 2 Peter 2:4God even punished the angels who refused to obey him. He threw them down into the deep hole of hell. He tied them up and he kept them in that completely dark place. They will remain there until the day when God will judge them.
- Matthew 8:12But other people who think that God's kingdom belongs to them will not be there. God's angels will throw them into the dark places that are far away from God. There those people will weep very much. They will bite their teeth together.’
- Matthew 22:13The king said to his servants, “Tie his hands and his feet. Take him and throw him into the dark place outside. There, people will cry and they will bite their teeth together.”
- Matthew 25:30This servant cannot work for me any longer. Take him outside and throw him into a dark place. There, people will cry and they will bite their teeth together.” ’
- Jude 1:6Also remember that some angels refused to obey God. They took more authority for themselves than God had given them. They left their own proper place with God in heaven. So God has tied them up as prisoners for ever in a completely dark place. He will keep them there until that great day when he will judge everyone.
Commentaries on 2 Peter 2:17
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 17These are wells without water - Persons who, by their profession, should furnish the water of life to souls athirst for salvation; but they have not this water; they are teachers without ability to instruct; they are sowers, and have no seed in their basket. Nothing is more cheering in the deserts of the east than to meet with a well of water; and nothing more distressing, when parched with thirst, than to meet with a well that contains no water. Clouds…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 17These are wells without water - Jude 1:12-13 employs several other epithets to describe the same class of persons. The language employed both by Peter and Jude is singularly terse, pointed, and emphatic. Nothing to an oriental mind would be more expressive than to say of professed religious teachers, that they were “wells without water.” It was always a sad disappointment to a traveler in the hot sands of the desert to come to a well where it was expected…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 17-22Verses 17-22 The word of truth is the water of life, which refreshes the souls that receive it; but deceivers spread and promote error, and are set forth as empty, because there is no truth in them. As clouds hinder the light of the sun, so do these darken counsel by words wherein there is no truth. Seeing that these men increase darkness in this world, it is very just that the mist of darkness should be their portion in the next. In the midst of their…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 17-22Peter continues to describe the false teachers by showing how they harm other people.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1717. (Jude 12, 13.) wells--"clouds" in Jude; both promising (compare 2Pe 2:19) water, but yielding none; so their "great swelling words" are found on trial to be but "vanity" (2Pe 2:18). clouds--The oldest manuscripts and versions read, "mists," dark, and not transparent and bright as "clouds" often are, whence the latter term is applied sometimes to the saints; fit emblem of the children of darkness. "Clouds" is a transcriber's correction from Jude 12…Read the comment
Topics related to 2 Peter 2:17
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on 2 Peter 2
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Illustrated New Testament
- Burkitt’s Expository Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Family Bible Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- The People’s New Testament
- Robertson’s Word Pictures
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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