2 Peter 2:15

Which have forsaken the right way ,.... The right way of the Lord, the way of truth, the Gospel of truth; or Christ, who is the way, the truth, and the life; the true way to eternal life, and which is the right way to eternal happiness; the way of life, righteousness, and salvation by Christ, the Christian faith, and the doctrine of it, which they once professed, but now relinquished:

and are gone astray ; from the right way, the way of truth and holiness, into the paths of error and profaneness:

following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor ; which Jude calls his error, Judges 1:11 , and is the path of covetousness, uncleanness, and idolatry, sins which he was either guilty of himself, or taught, advised, and seduced others to; see Revelation 2:14 . The Vulgate Latin version reads "Balaam out of Bosor", taking "Bosor" for the name of a place, of which "Balaam" was; but not "Bosor", but "Pethor", was the place of Balaam's residence, Numbers 22:5 . The Arabic and Ethiopic versions supply, as we do, "the son of Bosor"; and the Syriac version reads, "the son of Beor", as in Numbers 22:5 ; for Beor and "Bosor" are the same names; the "sheva" being pronounced by "o", as it is by "oa" in "Boanerges", and the "ain" by "s". Moreover, the letters צ and ע are sometimes used for one another, as in צאן and עאן , ארץ and ארע , and so ע and ש , especially in the Chaldean dialect; and Peter now being at Babylon in Chaldea, see 1 Peter 5:13 ; it is no wonder that he so pronounced.

Who loved the wages of unrighteousness : which were the rewards of divination, Numbers 22:7 ; which were brought him for his divining or soothsaying, and may well be called unrighteous wages, since it was for doing unrighteous things, or things in an unrighteous manner; and these he loved, desired, and greedily coveted, and fain would he have taken Balak's gold and silver, and have cursed Israel, but was restrained by the Lord: he showed a good will to it, in going along with the messengers, and in building altars, and offering sacrifice in one place after another, in which there was a great resemblance between him and the men here spoken of.