English Standard Version
2 Peter 2:17
17These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm. For them the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved.
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.
- New King James Version (NKJV)These are wells without water, clouds carried by a tempest, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.
- New Living Translation (NLT)These people are as useless as dried-up springs or as mist blown away by the wind. They are doomed to blackest darkness.
Context of 2 Peter 2:17
15Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray. They have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing, 16but was rebuked for his own transgression; a speechless donkey spoke with human voice and restrained the prophet's madness. These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm. For them the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved. 18For, speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error. 19They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved.
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 6:14"He who withholds kindness from a friend forsakes the fear of the Almighty.
- Jeremiah 14:3Her nobles send their servants for water; they come to the cisterns; they find no water; they return with their vessels empty; they are ashamed and confounded and cover their heads.
- Hosea 6:4What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? Your love is like a morning cloud, like the dew that goes early away.
- Jude 1:12These are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves; waterless clouds, swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted;
- Ephesians 4:14so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.
- 2 Peter 2:4For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment;
- Matthew 8:12while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
- Matthew 22:13Then the king said to the attendants, 'Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'
- Matthew 25:30And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'
- Jude 1:6And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day—
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
English Standard Version — © 2001 Crossway Bibles
Commentaries