For if God did not spare angels when they sinned,(A) but sent them to hell,[a] putting them in chains of darkness[b] to be held for judgment;(B) if he did not spare the ancient world(C) when he brought the flood on its ungodly people,(D) but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others;(E) if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes,(F) and made them an example(G) of what is going to happen to the ungodly;(H) and if he rescued Lot,(I) a righteous man, who was distressed by the depraved conduct of the lawless(J) (for that righteous man,(K) living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)— if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials(L) and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment.(M)

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Footnotes

  1. 2 Peter 2:4 Greek Tartarus
  2. 2 Peter 2:4 Some manuscripts in gloomy dungeons

For (A)if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into [a]hell and (B)committed them to [b]pits of darkness, held for judgment; and did not spare (C)the ancient world, but protected (D)Noah, a [c]preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a (E)flood upon the world of the ungodly; and if He (F)condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an (G)example [d]of what is coming for the (H)ungodly; and if He (I)rescued righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the (J)perverted conduct of [e](K)unscrupulous people (for by what he saw and heard that (L)righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds), (M)then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from [f]a trial, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the (N)day of judgment,

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Footnotes

  1. 2 Peter 2:4 Gr Tartarus, a name used as a reference to the netherworld (hell)
  2. 2 Peter 2:4 One early ms chains of darkness
  3. 2 Peter 2:5 Or herald
  4. 2 Peter 2:6 One early ms to those who were going to live ungodly lives
  5. 2 Peter 2:7 Or disgraceful
  6. 2 Peter 2:9 Or temptation; one early ms trials (temptations)

[a]For if God did not [even] spare angels that sinned, but threw them into [b]hell and sent them to pits of gloom to be kept [there] for judgment; and if He did not spare the ancient world, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought [the judgment of] a flood upon the world of the ungodly;(A) and if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly lives thereafter;(B) and if He rescued righteous [c]Lot, who was tormented by the immoral conduct of unprincipled and ungodly men(C) (for that just man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by what he saw and heard of their lawless acts), then [in light of the fact that all this is true, be sure that] the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trial, and how to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment,

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Footnotes

  1. 2 Peter 2:4 This verse begins one of the longest sentences in the NT. The sentence concludes in v 10a.
  2. 2 Peter 2:4 For emphasis Peter uses a word (tartarus) from Greek mythology describing a hell reserved for the most horrendous of people to emphasize the terrible doom awaiting false prophets and teachers who manipulate and twist the truth of the gospel message.
  3. 2 Peter 2:7 Lot was the nephew of Abraham and the son of Haran. He traveled with his uncle to Canaan and eventually settled in Sodom because of its proximity to good grazing land for his flocks. Peter presents a side of Lot not easily inferred from the OT account.

For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;

And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;

And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly;

And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked:

(For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;)

The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:

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God did not have pity on the angels that sinned. He had them tied up and thrown into the dark pits of hell until the time of judgment. (A) And during Noah's time, God did not have pity on the ungodly people of the world. He destroyed them with a flood, though he did save eight people, including Noah, who preached the truth.

(B) God punished the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah[a] by burning them to ashes, and this is a warning to anyone else who wants to sin.

7-8 (C) Lot lived right and was greatly troubled by the terrible way those wicked people were living. He was a good man, and day after day he suffered because of the evil things he saw and heard. So the Lord rescued him. This shows that the Lord knows how to rescue godly people from their sufferings and to punish evil people while they wait for the day of judgment.

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Footnotes

  1. 2.6 Sodom and Gomorrah: During the time of Abraham the Lord destroyed these cities because the people there were so evil (see Genesis 19.24).