2 Peter · Bible in Basic English
2 Peter 2 Bible in Basic English
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
1 But there were false prophets among the people, as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly put forward wrong teachings for your destruction, even turning away from the Lord who gave himself for them; whose destruction will come quickly, and they themselves will be the cause of it.
1 But false prophets also arose among the people, as false teachers will also be among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, denying even the Master who bought them, bringing on themselves swift destruction.
2 And a great number will go with them in their evil ways, through whom the true way will have a bad name.
2 Many will follow their immoral ways, and as a result, the way of the truth will be maligned.
3 And in their desire for profit they will come to you with words of deceit, like traders doing business in souls: whose punishment has been ready for a long time and their destruction is watching for them.
3 In covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words: whose sentence now from of old doesn’t linger, and their destruction will not slumber.
4 For if God did not have pity for the angels who did evil, but sent them down into hell, to be kept in chains of eternal night till they were judged;
4 For if God didn’t spare angels when they sinned, but cast them down to Tartarus, and committed them to pits of darkness to be reserved for judgment;
5 And did not have mercy on the world which then was, but only kept safe Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when he let loose the waters over the world of the evil-doers;
5 and didn’t spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah with seven others, a preacher of righteousness, when he brought a flood on the world of the ungodly,
6 And sent destruction on Sodom and Gomorrah, burning them up with fire as an example to those whose way of life might in the future be unpleasing to him;
6 and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, having made them an example to those who would live in an ungodly way,
7 And kept safe Lot, the upright man, who was deeply troubled by the unclean life of the evil-doers
7 and delivered righteous Lot, who was very distressed by the lustful life of the wicked
8 (Because the soul of that upright man living among them was pained from day to day by seeing and hearing their crimes):
8 (for that righteous man dwelling among them was tormented in his righteous soul from day to day with seeing and hearing lawless deeds),
9 The Lord is able to keep the upright safe in the time of testing, and to keep evil-doers under punishment till the day of judging;
9 then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment,
10 But specially those who go after the unclean desires of the flesh, and make sport of authority. Ready to take chances, uncontrolled, they have no fear of saying evil of those in high places:
10 but chiefly those who walk after the flesh in the lust of defilement and despise authority. Daring, self-willed, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries,
11 Though the angels, who are greater in strength and power, do not make use of violent language against them before the Lord.
11 whereas angels, though greater in might and power, don’t bring a slanderous judgment against them before the Lord.
12 But these men, like beasts without reason, whose natural use is to be taken and put to death, crying out against things of which they have no knowledge, will undergo that same destruction which they are designing for others;
12 But these, as unreasoning creatures, born natural animals to be taken and destroyed, speaking evil in matters about which they are ignorant, will in their destroying surely be destroyed,
13 For the evil which overtakes them is the reward of their evil-doing: such men take their pleasure in the delights of the flesh even in the daytime; they are like the marks of a disease, like poisoned wounds among you, feasting together with you in joy;
13 receiving the wages of unrighteousness; people who count it pleasure to revel in the daytime, spots and defects, reveling in their deceit while they feast with you;
14 Having eyes full of evil desire, never having enough of sin; turning feeble souls out of the true way; they are children of cursing, whose hearts are well used to bitter envy;
14 having eyes full of adultery, and who can’t cease from sin, enticing unsettled souls, having a heart trained in greed, accursed children!
15 Turning out of the true way, they have gone wandering in error, after the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who was pleased to take payment for wrongdoing;
15 Forsaking the right way, they went astray, having followed the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of wrongdoing;
16 But his wrongdoing was pointed out to him: an ass, talking with a man's voice, put a stop to the error of the prophet.
16 but he was rebuked for his own disobedience. A speechless donkey spoke with a man’s voice and stopped the madness of the prophet.
17 These are fountains without water, and mists before a driving storm; for whom the eternal night is kept in store.
17 These are wells without water, clouds driven by a storm, for whom the blackness of darkness has been reserved forever.
18 For with high-sounding false words, making use of the attraction of unclean desires of the flesh, they get into their power those newly made free from those who are living in error;
18 For, uttering great swelling words of emptiness, they entice in the lusts of the flesh, by licentiousness, those who are indeed escaping from those who live in error;
19 Saying that they will be free, while they themselves are the servants of destruction; because whatever gets the better of a man makes a servant of him.
19 promising them liberty, while they themselves are bondservants of corruption; for a man is brought into bondage by whoever overcomes him.
20 For if, after they have got free from the unclean things of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again taken in the net and overcome, their last condition is worse than their first.
20 For if, after they have escaped the defilement of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in it and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first.
21 For it would have been better for them to have had no knowledge of the way of righteousness, than to go back again from the holy law which was given to them, after having knowledge of it.
21 For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than after knowing it, to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them.
22 They are an example of that true saying, The dog has gone back to the food it had put out, and the pig which had been washed to its rolling in the dirty earth.
22 But it has happened to them according to the true proverb, “The dog turns to his own vomit again,” and “the sow that has washed to wallowing in the mire.”
Cross references (22)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Matthew 7:15; Jude 4; Deuteronomy 13:1–3; 2 Timothy 4:3; Matthew 24:11
- 2 Romans 2:24; Jude 10; Matthew 24:24; 2 Peter 2:15; Titus 2:8
- 3 2 Corinthians 2:17; Romans 16:18; Deuteronomy 32:35; 1 Thessalonians 2:5; Jude 15
- 4 Jude 6; Matthew 25:41; Romans 8:32; Revelation 20:1–3; Revelation 12:7–9
- 5 2 Peter 3:6; Hebrews 11:7; Luke 17:26–27; Jude 14–15; 1 Peter 3:19–20
- 6 Jude 7; Luke 17:28–30; Deuteronomy 29:23; Genesis 19:24–25; Numbers 26:10
- 7 Genesis 19:16; Genesis 19:29; Genesis 19:7–8; Genesis 19:22; Genesis 13:13
- 8 Psalm 119:158; Ezekiel 9:4; Psalm 119:136; 1 Timothy 1:9; Proverbs 25:26
- 9 Psalm 34:15–19; 1 Corinthians 10:13; Revelation 3:10; 2 Timothy 3:12; Jude 14–15
- 10 Jude 16; Jude 10; Exodus 22:28; Jude 18; 2 Peter 3:3
- 11 Jude 9; 2 Thessalonians 1:7; Psalm 103:20; Daniel 6:22; Psalm 104:4
- 12 Jude 10; Jeremiah 12:3; Galatians 6:8; 2 Peter 2:19; Psalm 92:6
- 13 Romans 13:13; Romans 2:8–9; Hebrews 2:2–3; Philippians 3:19; Jude 12–16
- 14 2 Peter 2:3; 2 Peter 2:18; Ephesians 2:3; 2 Peter 3:16; Ephesians 4:14
- 15 Revelation 2:14; Jude 11; Deuteronomy 23:4–5; Numbers 31:16; Numbers 22:5–7
- 16 Numbers 22:21–33; Acts 26:11; Luke 16:11; Ecclesiastes 7:25; Ecclesiastes 9:3
- 17 Jude 12–13; Jeremiah 14:3; Ephesians 4:14; Matthew 25:30; 2 Peter 2:4
- 18 2 Peter 2:20; Jude 15–16; Romans 13:13; James 5:5; Revelation 13:5–6
- 19 John 8:34; Romans 6:16–22; Galatians 5:13; Galatians 5:1; 1 Peter 2:16
- 20 Hebrews 10:26–27; Hebrews 6:4–8; Philippians 3:19; Luke 11:24–26; Deuteronomy 32:29
- 21 Ezekiel 18:24; Hebrews 6:4–6; James 4:17; Ezekiel 3:20; Luke 12:47
- 22 Proverbs 26:11
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
… saved out of Sodom when all the country round was punished by means of fire and brimstone, the Lord thus making it manifest that He does not forsake those that hope in Him, but gives up such as depart from Him to punishment and torture. For Lot's wife, who went forth with him, being of a different mind from himself …
… incarcerated till their final damnation in the day of judgment, the Apostle Peter very plainly declares, when he says that "God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved into judgment." Who, then, can doubt that God, either in foreknowledge or in act, separated between these …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)
… that time have so fallen, nor can I think that it is of them the Apostle Peter said, "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." I think he rather speaks of these who first apostatized from God, along with their …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)
… one who doeth sin is the servant of sin." And thus there are many wicked masters who have religious men as their slaves, and who are yet themselves in bondage; "for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage." And beyond question it is a happier thing to be the slave of a man …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)