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17 These men[a] are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm, for whom the utter depths of darkness[b] have been reserved. 18 For by speaking high-sounding but empty words[c] they are able to entice,[d] with fleshly desires and with debauchery,[e] people[f] who have just escaped[g] from those who reside in error.[h] 19 Although these false teachers promise[i] such people[j] freedom, they themselves are enslaved to[k] immorality.[l] For whatever a person succumbs to, to that he is enslaved.[m]

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Footnotes

  1. 2 Peter 2:17 tn Although some translations have simply “these” or “these people,” since in v. 14 they are described as having eyes “full of an adulteress,” men are in view.
  2. 2 Peter 2:17 tn Grk “utter darkness of darkness.” Verse 4 speaks of wicked angels presently in “chains of utter darkness,” while the final fate of the false teachers is a darker place still.
  3. 2 Peter 2:18 tn Grk “high-sounding words of futility.”
  4. 2 Peter 2:18 tn Grk “they entice.”
  5. 2 Peter 2:18 tn Grk “with the lusts of the flesh, with debauchery.”
  6. 2 Peter 2:18 tn Grk “those.”
  7. 2 Peter 2:18 tn Or “those who are barely escaping.”
  8. 2 Peter 2:18 tn Or “deceit.”
  9. 2 Peter 2:19 tn Verse 19 is a subordinate clause in Greek. The masculine nominative participle “promising” (ἐπαγγελλόμενοι, epangellomenoi) refers back to the subject of vv. 17-18. At the same time, it functions subordinately to the following participle, ὑπάρχοντες (huparchontes, “while being”).
  10. 2 Peter 2:19 tn Grk “them.”
  11. 2 Peter 2:19 tn Grk “slaves of.” See the note on the word “slave” in 1:1.
  12. 2 Peter 2:19 tn Or “corruption,” “depravity.” Verse 19 constitutes a subordinate clause to v. 18 in Greek. The main verbal components of these two verses are: “uttering…they entice…promising…being (enslaved).” The main verb is (they) entice. The three participles are adverbial and seem to indicate an instrumental relation (by uttering), a concessive relation (although promising), and a temporal relation (while being [enslaved]). For the sake of English usage, in the translation of the text this is broken down into two sentences.
  13. 2 Peter 2:19 tn Grk “for by what someone is overcome, to this he is enslaved.”

17 These people are springs without water(A) and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them.(B) 18 For they mouth empty, boastful words(C) and, by appealing to the lustful desires of the flesh, they entice people who are just escaping(D) from those who live in error. 19 They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity—for “people are slaves to whatever has mastered them.”(E)

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