2 Peter 2:17 - Exposition

These are wells without water. St. Peter has spoken of the vices of the false teachers; he goes on to describe the unprofitableness of their teaching. They are like wells without water; they deceive men with a promise which they do not fulfill. In Jud 2 Peter 1:12 there is a slight difference—"clouds without water" (comp. Jeremiah 2:13 ). Clouds that are carried with a tempest; better, mists driven by a tempest. The best manuscripts have ὁμίχλαι , mists, instead of νεφέλαι , clouds; they are driven along by the tempest; they give no water to the thirsty land, but only bring darkness and obscurity. The Greek word for "tempest" ( λαῖλαψ ) is used by St. Mark and St. Lu in their account of the tempest on the Sea of Galilee. To whom the mist of darkness is reserved for over; rather, as in the Revised Version, the blackness of darkness. The words are the same as those of Jud Mark 1:13 . The words "for ever" are omitted in the Vatican and Sinaitic Manuscripts; it is possible that they may have been inserted from the parallel passage in St. Jude; but they are well supported here.