2 Peter 2:16–20

2:16 yet was rebuked59 for his own transgression (a dumb donkey,60 speaking with a human voice,61 restrained the prophet’s madness).62

2:17 These men63 are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm, for whom the utter depths of darkness64 have been reserved. 2:18 For by speaking high-sounding but empty words65 they are able to entice,66 with fleshly desires and with debauchery,67 people68 who have just escaped69 from those who reside in error.70 2:19 Although these false teachers promise71 such people72 freedom, they themselves are enslaved to73 immorality.74 For whatever a person succumbs to, to that he is enslaved.75 2:20 For if after they have escaped the filthy things76 of the world through the rich knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,77 they78 again get entangled in them and succumb to them,79 their last state has become worse for them than their first.

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59	tn Grk “but he had a rebuke.”
60	tn The Greek word ἄφωνος (aphōnos) means “mute, silent” or “incapable of speech.” For reasons of English style the word “dumb” was used in the translation. Despite the potential for misunderstanding (since “dumb” can refer to a lack of intellectual capability) more dynamic glosses were judged to be inelegant.
61	tn Grk “a voice of a (man/person).”
62	sn Balaam’s activities are detailed in Num 22–24 (see also Num 31:8, 16).
63	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.
64	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.
65	tn Grk “high-sounding words of futility.”
66	tn Grk “they entice.”
67	tn Grk “with the lusts of the flesh, with debauchery.”
68	tn Grk “those.”
69	tn Or “those who are barely escaping.”
70	tn Or “deceit.”
71	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”).
72	tn Grk “them.”
73	tn Grk “slaves of.” See the note on the word “slave” in 1:1.
74	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.
75	tn Grk “for by what someone is overcome, to this he is enslaved.”
76	tn Grk “defilements”; “contaminations”; “pollutions.”
77	sn Through the rich knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The implication is not that these people necessarily knew the Lord (in the sense of being saved), but that they were in the circle of those who had embraced Christ as Lord and Savior.
78	tn Grk “(and/but) they.”
79	tn Grk “they again, after becoming entangled in them, are overcome by them.”

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