1 But there arose false prophets also among the people, as among you also there shall be false teachers, who shall privily bring in destructive heresies, denying even the Master that bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. 2 And many shall follow their lascivious doings; by reason of whom the way of the truth shall be evil spoken of. 3 And in covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose sentence now from of old lingereth not, and their destruction slumbereth not. 4 For if God spared not angels when they sinned, but cast them down to hell, and committed them to pits of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; 5 and spared not the ancient world, but preserved Noah with seven others, a preacher of righteousness, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; 6 and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, having made them an example unto those that should live ungodly; 7 and delivered righteous Lot, sore distressed by the lascivious life of the wicked 8 (for that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed [his ]righteous soul from day to day with [their ]lawless deeds): 9 the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment unto the day of judgment; 10 but chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of defilement, and despise dominion. Daring, selfwilled, they tremble not to rail at dignities: 11 whereas angels, though greater in might and power, bring not a railing judgment against them before the Lord. 12 But these, as creatures without reason, born mere animals to be taken and destroyed, railing in matters whereof they are ignorant, shall in their destroying surely be destroyed, 13 suffering wrong as the hire of wrong-doing; [men ]that count it pleasure to revel in the day-time, spots and blemishes, revelling in their love-feasts while they feast with you; 14 having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; enticing unstedfast souls; having a heart exercised in covetousness; children of cursing; 15 forsaking the right way, they went astray, having followed the way of Balaam the [son ]of Beor, who loved the hire of wrong-doing; 16 but he was rebuked for his own transgression: a dumb ass spake with man’s voice and stayed the madness of the prophet. 17 These are springs without water, and mists driven by a storm; for whom the blackness of darkness hath been reserved. 18 For, uttering great swelling [words ]of vanity, they entice in the lusts of the flesh, by lasciviousness, those who are just escaping from them that live in error; 19 promising them liberty, while they themselves are bondservants of corruption; for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he also brought into bondage. 20 For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein and overcome, the last state is become worse with them than the first. 21 For it were better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy commandment delivered unto them. 22 It has happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog turning to his own vomit again, and the sow that had washed to wallowing in the mire.
2 Peter · Revised Version with Apocrypha
2 Peter 2 Revised Version with Apocrypha
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
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)