2 Petrus 2:17-19

2:17 These men ¹  are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm, for whom the utter depths of darkness ²  have been reserved. 2:18 For by speaking high-sounding but empty words ³  they are able to entice, ⁴  with fleshly desires and with debauchery, ⁵  people ⁶  who have just escaped ⁷  from those who reside in error. ⁸  2:19 Although these false teachers promise ⁹  such people ¹⁰  freedom, they themselves are enslaved to ¹¹  immorality. ¹²  For whatever a person succumbs to, to that he is enslaved. ¹³ 

[2:17]  ¹ tn Although some translations have simply “these” or “these people,” since in v. 14 they are described as having eyes “full of an adulteress,” men are in view.

[2:17]  ² tn Grk “utter darkness of darkness.” Verse 4 speaks of wicked angels presently in “chains of utter darkness,” while the final fate of the false teachers is a darker place still.

[2:18]  ³ tn Grk “high-sounding words of futility.”

[2:18]  ⁴ tn Grk “they entice.”

[2:18]  ⁵ tn Grk “with the lusts of the flesh, with debauchery.”

[2:18]  ⁶ tn Grk “those.”

[2:18]  ⁷ tn Or “those who are barely escaping.”

[2:18]  ⁸ tn Or “deceit.”

[2:19]  ⁹ tn Verse 19 is a subordinate clause in Greek. The masculine nominative participle “promising” (ἐπαγγελλόμενοι, epangellomenoi) refers back to the subject of vv. 17-18. At the same time, it functions subordinately to the following participle, ὑπάρχοντες (Juparconte", “while being”).

[2:19]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “them.”

[2:19]  ¹¹ tn Grk “slaves of.” See the note on the word “slave” in 1:1.

[2:19]  ¹² tn Or “corruption,” “depravity.” Verse 19 constitutes a subordinate clause to v. 18 in Greek. The main verbal components of these two verses are: “uttering…they entice…promising…being (enslaved).” The main verb is (they) entice. The three participles are adverbial and seem to indicate an instrumental relation (by uttering), a concessive relation (although promising), and a temporal relation (while being [enslaved]). For the sake of English usage, in the translation of the text this is broken down into two sentences.

[2:19]  ¹³ tn Grk “for by what someone is overcome, to this he is enslaved.”