2 Petrus 2:17

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 Petrus 3:4-5

3:4 and saying, ³  “Where is his promised return? ⁴  For ever since ⁵  our ancestors ⁶  died, ⁷  all things have continued as they were ⁸  from the beginning of creation.” 3:5 For they deliberately suppress this fact, ⁹  that by the word of God ¹⁰  heavens existed long ago and an earth ¹¹  was formed out of water and by means of water.

2 Petrus 3:12

3:12 while waiting for and hastening ¹²  the coming of the day of God? ¹³  Because of this day, ¹⁴  the heavens will be burned up and ¹⁵  dissolve, and the celestial bodies ¹⁶  will melt away in a blaze! ¹⁷ 

[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.

[3:4]  ³ tn The present participle λέγοντες (legontes, “saying”) most likely indicates result. Thus, their denial of the Lord’s return is the result of their lifestyle. The connection to the false teachers of chapter 2 is thus made clear.

[3:4]  ⁴ tn Grk “Where is the promise of his coming?” The genitive παρουσίας (parousia", “coming, advent, return”) is best taken as an attributed genitive (in which the head noun, promise, functions semantically as an adjective; see ExSyn 89-91).

[3:4]  ⁵ tn The prepositional phrase with the relative pronoun, ἀφ᾿ ἧς (af’ |h"), is used adverbially or conjunctively without antecedent (see BDAG 727 s.v. ὅς 1.k.).

[3:4]  ⁶ tn Grk “fathers.” The reference could be either to the OT patriarchs or first generation Christians. This latter meaning, however, is unattested in any other early Christian literature.

[3:4]  ⁷ tn The verb κοιμάω (koimaw) literally means “sleep,” but it is often used in the Bible as a euphemism for the death of a believer.

[3:4]  ⁸ tn Grk “thus,” “in the same manner.”

[3:5]  ⁹ tn The Greek is difficult at this point. An alternative is “Even though they maintain this, it escapes them that…” Literally the idea seems to be: “For this escapes these [men] who wish [it to be so].”

[3:5]  ¹⁰ tn The word order in Greek places “the word of God” at the end of the sentence. See discussion in the note on “these things” in v. 6.

[3:5]  ¹¹ tn Or “land,” “the earth.”

[3:12]  ¹² tn Or possibly, “striving for,” but the meaning “hasten” for σπουδάζω (spoudazw) is normative in Jewish apocalyptic literature (in which the coming of the Messiah/the end is anticipated). Such a hastening is not an arm-twisting of the divine volition, but a response by believers that has been decreed by God.

[3:12]  ¹³ sn The coming of the day of God. Peter elsewhere describes the coming or parousia as the coming of Christ (cf. 2 Pet 1:16; 3:4). The almost casual exchange between “God” and “Christ” in this little book, and elsewhere in the NT, argues strongly for the deity of Christ (see esp. 1:1).

[3:12]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “on account of which” (a subordinate relative clause in Greek).

[3:12]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “being burned up, will dissolve.”

[3:12]  ¹⁶ tn See note in v. 10 on “celestial bodies.”

[3:12]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “being burned up” (see v. 10).