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The harm they will suffer is the wages of their wickedness. They consider it a pleasure to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deception as they feast with you.
2 Peter 2:13 · Berean Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB 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;
  • KJV And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you;
  • NKJV and will receive the wages of unrighteousness, as those who count it pleasure to carouse in the daytime. They are spots and blemishes, carousing in their own deceptions while they feast with you,
  • NASB suffering wrong as the wages of doing wrong. They count it a pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are stains and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions as they feast with you,
  • NLT Their destruction is their reward for the harm they have done. They love to indulge in evil pleasures in broad daylight. They are a disgrace and a stain among you. They delight in deception even as they eat with you in your fellowship meals.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

They will receive the wages of their wrongdoing, reveling openly even by day, blemishes who indulge deceitfully while feasting alongside believers. It matters because hidden corruption defiles the fellowship of the church.

Overview

Peter describes the false teachers' shameless self-indulgence and the harm they do within the community. As 'spots and defects,' they pollute the church's gatherings, perhaps its love-feasts. Their judgment is the just wage for their unrighteousness, even as they presume on Christian fellowship.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 14

  • Rom 13:13Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy.
  • Rom 2:8–9But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow wickedness, there will be wrath and anger.
  • Heb 2:2–3For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every transgression and disobedience received its just punishment,
  • Phil 3:19Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and their glory is in their shame. Their minds are set on earthly things.
  • Jude 1:12–16These men are hidden reefs in your love feasts, shamelessly feasting with you but shepherding only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried along by the wind; fruitless trees in autumn, twice dead after being uprooted.
  • Eph 5:27and to present her to Himself as a glorious church, without stain or wrinkle or any such blemish, but holy and blameless.
  • 1 Pet 4:4Because of this, they consider it strange of you not to plunge with them into the same flood of reckless indiscretion, and they heap abuse on you.
  • 1 Th 5:7–8For those who sleep, sleep at night; and those who get drunk, get drunk at night.
  • Rev 18:6Give back to her as she has done to others; pay her back double for what she has done; mix her a double portion in her own cup.
  • Isa 3:11Woe to the wicked; disaster is upon them! For they will be repaid with what their hands have done.
  • 2 Tim 4:14Alexander the coppersmith did great harm to me. The Lord will repay him according to his deeds.
  • 1 Cor 11:20–22Now then, when you come together, it is not the Lord’s Supper you eat.
  • 2 Pet 2:15They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Beor, who loved the wages of wickedness.
  • Song 4:7You are altogether beautiful, my darling; in you there is no flaw.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (7)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — 2 Peter videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on 2 Peter 2:13YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on 2 PeterMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

The sure word of the prophets and the promise of the coming day of the Lord anchor the believer in the knowledge of 'our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.'

How 2 Peter 2:13 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.