17 These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever.
17 These people are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them.
17 These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm. For them the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved.
17 There's nothing to these people - they're dried-up fountains, storm-scattered clouds, headed for a black hole in hell.
17 These are wells without water, clouds carried by a tempest, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.
17 These people are as useless as dried-up springs or as mist blown away by the wind. They are doomed to blackest darkness.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on 2 Peter 2:17
Commentary on 2 Peter 2:17-22
(Read 2 Peter 2:17-22)
The word of truth is the water of life, which refreshes the souls that receive it; but deceivers spread and promote error, and are set forth as empty, because there is no truth in them. As clouds hinder the light of the sun, so do these darken counsel by words wherein there is no truth. Seeing that these men increase darkness in this world, it is very just that the mist ofdarkness should be their portion in the next. In the midst of their talk of liberty, these men are the vilest slaves; their own lusts gain a complete victory over them, and they are actually in bondage. When men are entangled, they are easily overcome; therefore Christians should keep close to the word of God, and watch against all who seek to bewilder them. A state of apostacy is worse than a state of ignorance. To bring an evil report upon the good way of God, and a false charge against the way of truth, must expose to the heaviest condemnation. How dreadful is the state here described! Yet though such a case is deplorable, it is not utterly hopeless; the leper may be made clean, and even the dead may be raised. Is thy backsliding a grief to thee? Believe in the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved.