New International Version
2 Peter 2:17
17These people are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved 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.
- 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.
- 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
15They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Bezer, who loved the wages of wickedness. 16But 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. These people are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them. 18For they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of the flesh, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error. 19They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity—for “people are slaves to whatever has mastered them.”
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“Anyone who withholds kindness from a friend forsakes the fear of the Almighty.
- Jeremiah 14:3The nobles send their servants for water; they go to the cisterns but find no water. They return with their jars unfilled; dismayed and despairing, they cover their heads.
- Hosea 6:4“What can I do with you, Ephraim? What can I do with you, Judah? Your love is like the morning mist, like the early dew that disappears.
- Jude 1:12These people are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm—shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted—twice dead.
- Ephesians 4:14Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.
- 2 Peter 2:4For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment;
- Matthew 8:12But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
- Matthew 22:13“Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
- Matthew 25:30And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
- Jude 1:6And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their proper dwelling—these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on 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
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