These men are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them.
Parallel translations
- WEB These are wells without water, clouds driven by a storm; for whom the blackness of darkness has been reserved forever.
- KJV These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever.
- NKJV These are wells without water, clouds carried by a tempest, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.
- NASB These are springs without water and mists driven by a storm, for whom the black darkness has been reserved.
- NLT These people are as useless as dried-up springs or as mist blown away by the wind. They are doomed to blackest darkness.
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
These teachers are waterless springs and storm-driven mists, for whom deepest darkness has been reserved. It matters because they promise nourishment but deliver nothing and face certain judgment.
Overview
Peter pictures the false teachers as springs without water and clouds blown away by the wind, offering refreshment that never comes. Their emptiness contrasts with the living truth of the gospel. The 'blackness of darkness' reserved for them signals their final condemnation.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Jude 1:12–13These 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 4:14Then we will no longer be infants, tossed about by the waves and carried around by every wind of teaching and by the clever cunning of men in their deceitful scheming.
- Jer 14:3The nobles send their servants for water; they go to the cisterns, but find no water; their jars return empty. They are ashamed and humiliated; they cover their heads.
- Matt 25:30And throw that worthless servant into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
- Matt 22:13Then the king told the servants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
- Matt 8:12But the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
- 2 Pet 2:4For if God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but cast them deep into hell, placing them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment;
- Jude 1:6And the angels who did not stay within their own domain but abandoned their proper dwelling—these He has kept in eternal chains under darkness, bound for judgment on that great day.
- Job 6:14–17A despairing man should have the kindness of his friend, even if he forsakes the fear of the Almighty.
- Hos 6:4What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? For your loyalty is like a morning mist, like the early dew that vanishes.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 2:17 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
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