2 Peter 2:17

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

15They have wandered off the right road and followed the footsteps of Balaam son of Beor, who loved to earn money by doing wrong. 16But Balaam was stopped from his mad course when his donkey rebuked him with a human voice. These people are as useless as dried-up springs or as mist blown away by the wind. They are doomed to blackest darkness. 18They brag about themselves with empty, foolish boasting. With an appeal to twisted sexual desires, they lure back into sin those who have barely escaped from a lifestyle of deception. 19They promise freedom, but they themselves are slaves of sin and corruption. For you are a slave to whatever controls you.

2 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“One should be kind to a fainting friend, but you accuse me without any fear of the Almighty.
• Jeremiah 14:3The nobles send servants to get water, but all the wells are dry. The servants return with empty pitchers, confused and desperate, covering their heads in grief.
• Hosea 6:4“O Israel and Judah, what should I do with you?” asks the Lord. “For your love vanishes like the morning mist and disappears like dew in the sunlight.
• Jude 1:12When these people eat with you in your fellowship meals commemorating the Lord’s love, they are like dangerous reefs that can shipwreck you. They are like shameless shepherds who care only for themselves. They are like clouds blowing over the land without giving any rain. They are like trees in autumn that are doubly dead, for they bear no fruit and have been pulled up by the roots.
• Ephesians 4:14Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth.
• 2 Peter 2:4For God did not spare even the angels who sinned. He threw them into hell, in gloomy pits of darkness, where they are being held until the day of judgment.
• Matthew 8:12But many Israelites—those for whom the Kingdom was prepared—will be thrown into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
• Matthew 22:13Then the king said to his aides, ‘Bind his hands and feet and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
• Matthew 25:30Now throw this useless servant into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
• Jude 1:6And I remind you of the angels who did not stay within the limits of authority God gave them but left the place where they belonged. God has kept them securely chained in prisons of darkness, waiting for the great day of judgment.

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

• Anarchy
• Apostasy
• Doctrines
• Hypocrisy
• Meteorology and Celestial Phenomena
• Minister, Christian
• Mist
• Wells
• Wicked (People)

In the dictionaries

• Chain
• Cloud
• Damnable
• Perish
• Privily
• Railing
• Reserve
• Riot
• Swift
• Wantonness

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