Atlas Biblica

    2 Peter · 22 verses

    2 Peter 2

    Every verse links to the people and places named in it, and to the passages readers connect it with.

    The chapter

    What happens here

    Atlas's own reading, written from this chapter and nothing else, and published only once a person has approved it. Each scene names the verses it covers; the names inside it link to the people and places they name.

    A donkey, otherwise without speech, suddenly speaks with a man’s voice and restrains a prophet’s madness—a most unexpected interruption in a warning about people who have lost the straight way.

    The old verdict still standsvv. 1–9

    False teachers slip destructive heresies among the people, deny the Master who bought them, and make the way of truth a public scandal. Their greed arrives in deceptive words, but the verdict against them is not asleep. The argument then gathers three grave examples: sinful angels held in darkness, the ancient world swept away while Noah was preserved, and Sodom and Gomorrah reduced to ashes. Lot, meanwhile, is rescued while living among the lawless, distressed by what he sees and hears. The pattern is presented plainly enough: the Lord knows how to rescue the godly and hold the unrighteous for judgment.

    The noisy company of corruptionvv. 10–19

    The condemned company is bold, self-willed, and remarkably confident in matters they do not understand; even angels do not venture the slanderous charges that these men utter. They feast in daylight, seduce the unstable, and carry greed in their hearts as though it were a trained skill. Then comes Balaam son of Beor, whose love of wicked wages is checked by the least expected speaker in the passage: a donkey. The false teachers are springs without water and mists driven by a storm, offering freedom while remaining slaves to whatever has mastered them.

    A very muddy returnvv. 20–22

    Those who escaped the world’s corruption through the knowledge of Jesus Christ can become entangled and overcome by it again. Their final condition is worse than their first, and turning away after knowing the way of righteousness is described as a particularly sorry business. The warning closes not in stately language but with two animals returning to what they had left behind: a dog to vomit, and a washed sow to mud. The image is earthy, emphatic, and difficult to misplace in the memory.

    The text

    Read it

    Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.

    1. 2 Pet 2:1Now there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves.

    2. 2 Pet 2:2Many will follow in their depravity, and because of them the way of truth will be defamed.

    3. 2 Pet 2:3In their greed, these false teachers will exploit you with deceptive words. The longstanding verdict against them remains in force, and their destruction does not sleep.

    4. 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;

    5. 2 Pet 2:5if He did not spare the ancient world when He brought the flood on its ungodly people, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, among the eight;

    6. 2 Pet 2:6if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction, reducing them to ashes as an example of what is coming on the ungodly;

    7. 2 Pet 2:7and if He rescued Lot, a righteous man distressed by the depraved conduct of the lawless

    8. 2 Pet 2:8(for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)—

    9. 2 Pet 2:9if all this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment.

    10. 2 Pet 2:10Such punishment is specially reserved for those who indulge the corrupt desires of the flesh and despise authority. Bold and self-willed, they are unafraid to slander glorious beings.

    11. 2 Pet 2:11Yet not even angels, though greater in strength and power, dare to bring such slanderous charges against them before the Lord.

    12. 2 Pet 2:12These men are like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be captured and destroyed. They blaspheme in matters they do not understand, and like such creatures, they too will be destroyed.

    13. 2 Pet 2:13The harm they will suffer is the wages of their wickedness. They consider it a pleasure to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deception as they feast with you.

    14. 2 Pet 2:14Their eyes are full of adultery; their desire for sin is never satisfied; they seduce the unstable. They are accursed children with hearts trained in greed.

    15. 2 Pet 2:15They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Beor, who loved the wages of wickedness.

    16. 2 Pet 2:16But he was rebuked for his transgression by a donkey, otherwise without speech, that spoke with a man’s voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.

    17. 2 Pet 2:17These men are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them.

    18. 2 Pet 2:18With lofty but empty words, they appeal to the sensual passions of the flesh and entice those who are just escaping from others who live in error.

    19. 2 Pet 2:19They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves to depravity. For a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him.

    20. 2 Pet 2:20If indeed they have escaped the corruption of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, only to be entangled and overcome by it again, their final condition is worse than it was at first.

    21. 2 Pet 2:21It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than to have known it and then to turn away from the holy commandment passed on to them.

    22. 2 Pet 2:22Of them the proverbs are true: “A dog returns to its vomit,” and, “A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud.”

    01 — Also here

    Who else the chapter reaches

    Names written in the English are linked in the text above. These are the ones that are not: an entity the Hebrew or Greek names under a spelling the translation does not use, or one reached only by an assertion about a verse of this chapter.

    Reached by an assertion Atlas extracted from a verse of this chapter rather than by a name written in it — a pronoun, a title, or a participant the sentence carries without naming. This layer is model-read and measured at 88.6–90.3% precision, and it is kept separate from the names above for that reason.

    02 — Read alongside

    Where this is echoed

    Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 404 passages were voted onto 22 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.

    • 4Jude 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.
    • 9Psalms 34:15–19The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, and His ears are inclined to their cry.
    • 91 Corinthians 10:13No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide an escape, so that you can stand up under it.
    • 20Hebrews 10:26–27If we deliberately go on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no further sacrifice for sins remains,
    • 22Proverbs 26:11As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly.
    • 4Matthew 25:41Then He will say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
    • 1Matthew 7:15Beware of false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.
    • 20Hebrews 6:4–8It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit,
    • 21Ezekiel 18:24But if a righteous man turns from his righteousness and practices iniquity, committing the same abominations as the wicked, will he live? None of the righteous acts he did will be remembered. Because of the unfaithfulness and sin he has committed, he will die.
    • 9Revelation 3:10Because you have kept My command to persevere, I will also keep you from the hour of testing that is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.
    • 1Jude 1:4For certain men have crept in among you unnoticed—ungodly ones who were designated long ago for condemnation. They turn the grace of our God into a license for immorality, and they deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
    • 1Deuteronomy 13:1–3If a prophet or dreamer of dreams arises among you and proclaims a sign or wonder to you,
    • 4Romans 8:32He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also, along with Him, freely give us all things?
    • 20Philippians 3:19Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and their glory is in their shame. Their minds are set on earthly things.
    • 21James 4:17Anyone, then, who knows the right thing to do, yet fails to do it, is guilty of sin.
    • 12 Timothy 4:3For the time will come when men will not tolerate sound doctrine, but with itching ears they will gather around themselves teachers to suit their own desires.

    Onward

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    Next chapter2 Peter 318 verses.Named hereBalaamEverything the graph connects to this name.Book2 PeterAll 3 chapters.Every bookThe Bible66 books, 1,189 chapters.