^2:6and if he turned to ashes the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah when he condemned them to destruction,²³ having appointed²⁴ them to serve as an example²⁵ to future generations of the ungodly,²⁶

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Footnotes

23 Several important witnesses omit καταστροφῇ (katastrophē, “destruction”; such as 𝔓72* B C* 1241 1739 1881 ), but this is probably best explained as an accidental omission due to homoioarcton (the word following is κατέκρινεν [katekrinen, “he condemned“]). Or “ruin,” or “extinction.” The first part of this verse more literally reads “And [if] he condemned to annihilation the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, by turning them to ashes.” The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah is detailed in Gen 18:16–19:29.
24 The perfect participle τεθεικώς (tetheikōs) suggests an antecedent act. More idiomatically, the idea seems to be, “because he had already appointed them to serve as an example.”
25 “To serve as” is not in Greek but is implied in the object-complement construction.
26 Grk “an example of the things coming to the ungodly,” or perhaps “an example to the ungodly of coming [ages].”

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly;

NIVNew International Version (2011)

if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly;

CSBChristian Standard Bible

and if he reduced the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes and condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is coming to the ungodly;

NLTNew Living Translation

Later, God condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and turned them into heaps of ashes. He made them an example of what will happen to ungodly people.

LEBThe Lexham English Bible

and condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction, reducing them to ashes, having appointed them as an example for those who are going to be ungodly,

KJV 1900King James Version

And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly;

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