2 Peter 2
Expanded Bible
False Teachers
2 There used to be false prophets among God’s people [Deut. 13:1–5; 18:14–22; Jer. 28] just as you will have some false teachers ·in your group [L among you; Jude 4]. They will secretly ·teach [bring in; introduce] ·things that are wrong—teachings that will cause people to be lost [L destructive heresies/opinions/factions]. They will even ·refuse to accept [L deny] the Master [C Jesus] who bought ·their freedom [L them; C as a master purchases a slave; 1 Cor. 6:20; 1 Pet. 1:18]. So they will bring quick ·ruin [destruction] on themselves. 2 Many will follow their ·evil [depraved; debauched; licentious] ways and ·say evil things about [malign; slander] the way of truth. 3 ·Those false teachers only want your money, so [L In their greed] they will ·use [exploit] you ·by telling you lies [with deceptive/false words]. Their judgment spoken against them long ago is ·still coming [not idle], and their ruin ·is certain [does not sleep].
4 [L For if] When angels sinned, God did not ·let them go free without punishment [spare them]. [L But] He sent them to ·hell [L Tartarus; C a Greek term for the underworld] and put them in caves[a] of darkness where they are being held for judgment [Gen. 6:1–4; Jude 6]. 5 And God ·punished the world long ago [L did not spare the ancient world] when he brought a flood to the world that was full of ·people who were against him [the ungodly]. But God ·saved [protected; kept] Noah, ·who preached about being right with God [a preacher of righteousness; C Jewish tradition described Noah preaching repentance], and seven other people with him [C his wife plus his three sons and their wives; Gen. 6—9]. 6 And God also ·destroyed [condemned] the evil cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them until they were ashes [Gen. 19; Jude 7]. He made those cities an example ·of what will happen to [or for future generations of] ·those who are against God [L the ungodly; Jude 7]. 7 But he saved Lot from those cities. Lot, a ·good [righteous] man, was ·troubled [distressed; or oppressed] because of the ·filthy lives [depraved behavior] of ·evil [lawless] people. 8 (Lot was a ·good [righteous] man, but because he lived with evil people ·every day [day after day], his ·good heart [righteous soul] was ·hurt [tormented] by the ·evil things [lawless deeds] he saw and heard.) 9 So the Lord knows how to save ·those who serve him [the godly] ·when troubles come [from trial/testing/temptation]. He will hold ·evil people [the wicked/unrighteous] ·and punish them, while waiting for the judgment day [or while they wait for their punishment on judgment day]. 10 That punishment is especially for those who ·live by doing the evil things their sinful selves want [L go after the flesh with defiling passion/lust] and who ·hate [despise] authority [Jude 8].
These false teachers are bold and ·do anything they want [arrogant; self-willed]. They ·are not afraid [L do not tremble] to ·speak against [slander; blaspheme] ·the angels [L the glorious ones; C probably angelic beings; unclear whether referring to good or evil angels; Jude 8]. 11 But even the angels, who are much stronger and more powerful ·than false teachers [or than the evil angels; C unclear whether referring to false teachers or to “the glorious ones” (seen as evil angels) of v. 10], do not ·accuse them with insults [L bring a slanderous charge against them] before[b] the Lord [see Jude 9]. 12 But these people ·speak against [slander; blaspheme] things they do not understand. They are like ·animals that act without thinking [irrational animals], animals [of simple instinct] born to be caught and killed. And, ·like animals, these false teachers will be destroyed [or like the evil angels, these false teachers will be destroyed; L in their destruction they will be destroyed; Jude 10]. 13 ·They have caused many people to suffer, so they themselves will suffer. That is their pay for what they have done [L …suffering harm as the wage of unrighteousness; C a wordplay based on the similarity of the Greek words translated “suffering harm” and “unrighteousness”]. They take pleasure in ·openly doing evil [doing evil/carousing in the daylight], so they are like dirty spots and ·stains [blemishes] among you. They delight in deceiving you while ·eating meals [or feasting] with you [C perhaps an allusion to the fellowship meal, or “love feast,” celebrated with the Lord’s Supper; Jude 12]. 14 ·Every time they look at a woman they want her [L They have eyes full of adultery], and ·their desire for sin is never satisfied [or they never stop sinning]. They ·lead weak people into the trap of sin [ensnare/entice/lure unstable people/souls], and they have ·taught [exercised; trained] their hearts to be greedy. ·God will punish them [L Accursed children; C under God’s curse]! 15 These false teachers ·left [abandoned] the ·right [or straight] road and ·lost their way [wandered away; went astray], following the way Balaam went. Balaam, the son of ·Beor [or Bosor], loved ·being paid for doing wrong [L the wages of unrighteousness; Num. 25; 31:16; Rev. 2:14]. 16 But a donkey, which cannot talk, ·told Balaam he was sinning [L rebuked his wrongdoing]. It spoke with a ·man’s [human] voice and stopped the prophet’s ·crazy thinking [madness; Num. 22:21–35; Jude 11].
17 Those false teachers are like ·springs [or wells] without water and ·clouds [or mists] blown by a ·storm [whirlwind; squall; Jude 12]. A place in the ·blackest [deepest; L gloomy] darkness has been kept for them [Jude 12—13]. 18 They ·brag with [speak with bombastic, boastful] words that ·mean nothing [are empty]. By their ·evil [fleshly] desires they ·lead people into the trap of sin—[entice] people who ·are just beginning to escape [or have barely escaped] from others who live in error. 19 They promise them freedom [C perhaps from the law or from fear of judgment], but they themselves are not free. They are slaves of ·things that will be destroyed [corruption; depravity]. For people are slaves of anything that ·controls [masters; overpowers; defeats] them [C this last sentence may be a common proverb]. 20 They ·were made free [escaped] from the ·evil [depravity; defilement] in the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. But if they ·return to [L get entangled again with] evil things and those things ·control [master; overpower; defeat] them, then ·it is worse for them than it was before [their last/final state is worse than the first; Matt. 12:45; Luke 11:26]. 21 ·Yes, [L For] it would be better for them to have never known the ·right way [or the way of righteousness] than to know it and to turn away from the holy ·teaching [L commandment; law] that was ·given [passed on; handed down] to them. 22 What they did is like this true ·saying [proverb; parable]: “A dog ·goes back to what it has thrown up [T returns to its vomit; Prov. 26:11],” and, “After a pig is washed, it goes back and rolls in the mud.”
Footnotes
- 2 Peter 2:4 caves Some Greek copies read “chains.”
- 2 Peter 2:11 before Some Greek copies read “from.”
2 Peter 2
Amplified Bible
The Rise of False Prophets
2 But [in those days] false prophets arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will subtly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction on themselves. 2 Many will follow their shameful ways, and because of them the way of truth will be maligned. 3 And in their greed they will exploit you with false arguments and twisted doctrine. Their sentence [of condemnation which God has decreed] from a time long ago is not idle [but is still in force], and their destruction and deepening misery is not asleep [but is on its way].
4 [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; 5 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) 6 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) 7 and if He rescued righteous [c]Lot, who was tormented by the immoral conduct of unprincipled and ungodly men(C) 8 (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), 9 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, 10 and especially [d]those who indulge in the corrupt passions of the sin nature, and despise authority.
Presumptuous and reckless, self-willed and arrogant [creatures, despising the majesty of the Lord], they do not tremble when they revile angelic majesties, 11 whereas even angels who are superior in might and power do not bring a reviling (defaming) accusation against them before the Lord.(D) 12 But these [false teachers], like unreasoning animals, [mere] creatures of instinct, born to be captured and destroyed, reviling things they do not understand, will also perish in their own corruption [in their destroying they will be destroyed], 13 suffering wrong [destined for punishment] as the wages of doing wrong. They count it a delight to revel in the daytime [living luxuriously]. They are stains and blemishes [on mankind], reveling in their [e]deceptions even as they feast with you. 14 They have eyes full of adultery, constantly looking for sin, enticing and luring away unstable souls. Having hearts trained in greed, [they are] children of a curse. 15 Abandoning the straight road [that is, the right way to live], they have gone astray; they have followed the way of [the false teacher] Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the reward of wickedness;(E) 16 but he was rebuked for his own transgression: a mute donkey spoke with a man’s voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.(F)
17 These [false teachers] are springs without water and mists driven by a tempest, for whom is reserved the gloom of black darkness. 18 For uttering arrogant words of vanity [pompous words disguised to sound scholarly or profound, but meaning nothing and containing no spiritual truth], they beguile and lure using lustful desires, by sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones who live in error. 19 They promise them liberty, when they themselves are the slaves of depravity—for by whatever anyone is defeated and overcome, to that [person, thing, philosophy, or concept] he is continually enslaved. 20 For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world by [personal] knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, their last condition has become worse for them than the first. 21 For it would have been better for them not to have [personally] known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to have turned back from the holy commandment [verbally] handed on to them. 22 The thing spoken of in the true proverb has happened to them, “The dog returns to his own vomit,” and, “A sow is washed only to wallow [again] in the mire.”(G)
Footnotes
- 2 Peter 2:4 This verse begins one of the longest sentences in the NT. The sentence concludes in v 10a.
- 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.
- 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.
- 2 Peter 2:10 In the descriptions that follow, Peter may specifically have in mind the false teachers of whom he spoke in vv 1-3.
- 2 Peter 2:13 One early ms reads love feasts.
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