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2 Peter 2

The chapter exposes destructive teachers and declares that God knows how to rescue the godly and judge those who corrupt others.

False teachers will arise among the believers addressed by this letter, spreading destructive teaching and exploiting people through greed and deception. Peter describes their conduct and warns that God’s judgment will reach them. He recalls the punishment of sinful angels, the flood, and Sodom and Gomorrah, alongside the rescue of Noah and Lot. The chapter then exposes teachers who promise freedom while enslaved to corruption, ending with harsh images of returning to what defiles.

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1But false prophets also arose among the people, as false teachers will also be among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, denying even the Master who bought them, bringing on themselves swift destruction.
2Many will follow their immoral ways, and as a result, the way of the truth will be maligned.
3In covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words: whose sentence now from of old doesn’t linger, and their destruction will not slumber.
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;
5and didn’t spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah with seven others, a preacher of righteousness, when he brought a flood on the world of the ungodly,
6and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, having made them an example to those who would live in an ungodly way,
7and delivered righteous Lot, who was very distressed by the lustful life of the wicked
8(for that righteous man dwelling among them was tormented in his righteous soul from day to day with seeing and hearing lawless deeds),
9then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment,
10but chiefly those who walk after the flesh in the lust of defilement and despise authority. Daring, self-willed, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries,
11whereas angels, though greater in might and power, don’t bring a slanderous judgment against them before the Lord.
12But these, as unreasoning creatures, born natural animals to be taken and destroyed, speaking evil in matters about which they are ignorant, will in their destroying surely be destroyed,
13receiving the wages of unrighteousness; people who count it pleasure to revel in the daytime, spots and defects, reveling in their deceit while they feast with you;
14having eyes full of adultery, and who can’t cease from sin, enticing unsettled souls, having a heart trained in greed, accursed children!
15Forsaking the right way, they went astray, having followed the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of wrongdoing;
16but he was rebuked for his own disobedience. A speechless donkey spoke with a man’s voice and stopped the madness of the prophet.
17These are wells without water, clouds driven by a storm, for whom the blackness of darkness has been reserved forever.
18For, uttering great swelling words of emptiness, they entice in the lusts of the flesh, by licentiousness, those who are indeed escaping from those who live in error;
19promising them liberty, while they themselves are bondservants of corruption; for a man is brought into bondage by whoever overcomes him.
20For if, after they have escaped the defilement of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in it and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first.
21For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than after knowing it, to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them.
22But it has happened to them according to the true proverb, “The dog turns to his own vomit again,” and “the sow that has washed to wallowing in the mire.”
World English BibleRead in NIV in Psalmlog →Highlighted verses are the most connected.
Key verses
2 Peter 2:1The opening warning places false teaching within the community and links denial of the Master with coming destruction.
2 Peter 2:9This verse draws together the earlier examples: God’s power to rescue and his authority to judge remain certain.
2 Peter 2:20The closing warning stresses the grave consequences of returning to corruption after knowing Jesus Christ.
Where this chapter reaches

Jude shares the examples of sinful angels, Sodom and Gomorrah, and Balaam in its warning about corrupt people within the community. Hebrews shares the warning that turning away after receiving knowledge of the truth brings grave judgment, a theme central to this chapter’s closing verses.

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After reading the whole chapter

What links between the teachers’ words and conduct stand out to you, and why?

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How do the accounts of Noah and Lot shape your reading of the chapter’s warnings?

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Questions people ask about 2 Peter 2

Who are the false teachers in 2 Peter 2?

The chapter does not name them. It describes people within the believing community who deny the Master, exploit others through deceptive words, and entice people into immoral conduct. Their greed and promises of freedom are central to the portrait. The text does not identify a specific historical group.

What is Tartarus in 2 Peter 2:4?

Tartarus is the term used here for the place where God confines angels who sinned. The verse describes pits of darkness and confinement pending judgment. Peter uses this example to establish that even angels face God’s judgment. The chapter does not explain the nature of their sin or describe this place further.

Does 2 Peter 2:20–22 teach that salvation can be lost?

These verses describe people who escaped the world’s defilement through knowledge of Jesus Christ, then became entangled again. Christians differ over whether this means loss of salvation or exposure of a faith that lacked saving reality. The explicit warning is severe: turning back after knowing righteousness leaves them worse off.

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2 Peter · 3 chapters
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What the Bible says about temptation →

Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).