These are wells without water, clouds carried by a tempest, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.
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.
- BSB These men are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them.
- 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 are hidden rocky reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you, shepherds who without fear feed themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;
- Eph 4:14that we may no longer be children, tossed back and forth and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in craftiness, after the wiles of error;
- Jer 14:3Their nobles send their little ones to the waters. They come to the cisterns, and find no water. They return with their vessels empty. They are disappointed and confounded, and cover their heads.
- Matt 25:30Throw out the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
- Matt 22:13Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and throw him into the outer darkness; there is where the weeping and grinding of teeth will be.’
- Matt 8:12but the children of the Kingdom will be thrown out into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
- 2 Pet 2:4For 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;
- Jude 1:6Angels who didn’t keep their first domain, but deserted their own dwelling place, he has kept in everlasting bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day.
- Job 6:14–17“To him who is ready to faint, kindness should be shown from his friend; even to him who forsakes the fear of the Almighty.
- Hos 6:4“Ephraim, what shall I do to you? Judah, what shall I do to you? For your love is like a morning cloud, and like the dew that disappears early.
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
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.