2 Peter 2:3

Contextual Overview

³ These false teachers only want your money. So they will use you by telling you things that are not true. But the judgment against these false teachers has been ready for a long time. And they will not escape God who will destroy them. ³ And in their greed they will exploit you with false words; from of old their condemnation has not been idle, and their destruction has not been asleep. ³ and thorow coveteousnes shall they with fayned wordes make marchandyse of you whose iudgement is not farre of and their dampnacion slepeth not. ³ In covetousness will they exploit you with deceptive words: whose sentence now from of old doesn't linger, and their destruction will not slumber. ³ and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.³ Those false teachers only want your money, so they will use you by telling you lies. Their judgment spoken against them long ago is still coming, and their ruin is certain. ³ And in greed they shall with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose sentence now from of old does not linger, and their destruction does not slumber. ³ And through covetousness they will with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. ³ In covetousness will they exploit you with deceptive words: whose sentence now from of old doesn't linger, and their destruction will not slumber. ³ And through covetousness will they with feigned speeches make merchandize of you, whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their destruction slumbereth not.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

through: 2 Peter 2:14, 2 Peter 2:15, Isaiah 56:11, Jeremiah 6:13, Jeremiah 8:10, Ezekiel 13:19, Micah 3:11, Malachi 1:10, Romans 16:18, 2 Corinthians 12:17, 2 Corinthians 12:18, 1 Timothy 3:3, 1 Timothy 3:8, 1 Timothy 6:5, Titus 1:7, Titus 1:11, 1 Peter 5:2, Jude 1:11

with: 2 Peter 1:16, Psalms 18:44, Psalms 66:3, Psalms 81:15, *marg. Luke 20:20, Luke 22:47, 1 Thessalonians 2:5

make: Deuteronomy 24:17, John 2:16, 2 Corinthians 2:17, Revelation 18:11-13

whose: 2 Peter 2:1, 2 Peter 2:9, Deuteronomy 32:35, Isaiah 5:19, Isaiah 30:13, Isaiah 30:14, Isaiah 60:22, Habakkuk 3:3, Luke 18:8, 1 Thessalonians 5:3, 1 Peter 2:8, Jude 1:4, Jude 1:7, Jude 1:15

Reciprocal: Numbers 22:19 - General Joshua 8:14 - he wist not Judges 18:4 - hired me Judges 18:20 - heart 2 Samuel 15:6 - stole 1 Kings 14:14 - but what 2 Kings 5:27 - leprosy Nehemiah 6:12 - hired him Job 18:12 - destruction Job 24:1 - seeing Job 34:20 - a moment Psalms 119:36 - and not to Proverbs 1:19 - every Proverbs 16:4 - yea Proverbs 21:6 - getting Proverbs 28:21 - for Proverbs 30:15 - Give Ecclesiastes 7:25 - the reason Ecclesiastes 8:13 - neither Isaiah 13:22 - her time Isaiah 57:17 - the iniquity Jeremiah 14:18 - go about Jeremiah 17:11 - he that Jeremiah 22:17 - covetousness Jeremiah 29:8 - your dreams Jeremiah 48:16 - near Jeremiah 51:13 - and the Ezekiel 12:24 - General Ezekiel 22:3 - that her Ezekiel 34:2 - Woe Hosea 4:8 - set their heart on their iniquity Habakkuk 2:3 - it will surely Zephaniah 1:14 - it is Zechariah 5:2 - flying Zechariah 11:5 - sell Matthew 18:7 - but Matthew 23:14 - therefore Matthew 26:15 - What Luke 12:15 - Take Luke 12:45 - and if Luke 22:5 - and covenanted Luke 22:22 - but John 10:1 - the same John 10:12 - he that Acts 1:25 - by Acts 16:16 - which Acts 19:25 - ye know Acts 24:26 - hoped Romans 9:22 - endured 2 Corinthians 4:5 - we 2 Corinthians 11:15 - whose Galatians 4:17 - zealously Ephesians 5:3 - covetousness Philippians 3:19 - end Philippians 4:17 - because 1 Thessalonians 5:9 - not 2 Thessalonians 2:12 - they 1 Timothy 6:9 - which 2 Timothy 3:2 - covetous Hebrews 13:5 - conversation 1 John 4:5 - and Revelation 18:13 - and souls

Cross-References

Genesis 2:2
And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done.

Genesis 2:2
And on the seventh day God finished his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.

Genesis 2:2
By the seventh day God finished the work he had been doing, so he rested from all his work.

Genesis 2:2
By the seventh day God finished the work that he had been doing, and he ceased on the seventh day all the work that he had been doing.

Genesis 2:2
And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.

Genesis 2:2
On the seventh day God finished his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.

Genesis 2:2
And by the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested (ceased) on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.

Genesis 2:2
And God fillide in the seuenthe dai his werk which he made; and he restide in the seuenthe dai fro al his werk which he hadde maad;

Genesis 2:2
and God completeth by the seventh day His work which He hath made, and ceaseth by the seventh day from all His work which He hath made.

Genesis 2:2
And by the seventh day God had finished the work He had been doing; so on that day He rested from all His work.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And through covetousness;.... Which is generally a prevailing vice among false teachers, they having no other end in view than themselves; either to gain popular applause and vain glory, which they are always covetous of; or to amass riches to themselves, after which they have an insatiable desire:

shall they with feigned words; made words, words of their own devising, and not which the Holy Ghost teacheth; whereby they cover themselves, and privily introduce their pernicious principles; and therefore new words and phrases are always to be suspected and guarded against, especially in articles of moment and importance: or with flattering words and fair speeches, great swelling words of vanity, having men's persons in admiration, because of worldly advantage; and in this way they gain their point:

make merchandise of you; deal with the souls of men, as merchants do with their goods, carry them to market and sell them; so false teachers deal with the souls of their followers, draw them, and sell them to Satan, and they themselves pay for it; see Zechariah 11:5 but in the issue, and that in a short time, they will be no gainers by such practices:

whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not: that is, their condemnation, which God in righteousness has determined, "from the creation of the world", as the Ethiopic version reads, or from all eternity, see Judges 1:4, to bring them into, for their vile principles and practices, is not retarded and delayed; it does not linger and stay behind, or slacken its pace; it will not tarry, it will come upon them at the appointed time:

and their damnation slumbereth not; an avenging God, who has appointed them to damnation for their sins, slumbers not; the justice of God is not asleep, nor careless and negligent, but is awake, and watches over them, to bring the evil upon them they have deserved, and is in reserve for them, and will hasten to perform it; the determined destruction does not lie dormant, but in a little time will be stirred up, and fall with dreadful weight on such sinners, as may be concluded from the following awful instances.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And through covetousness - This shows what one of the things was by which they were influenced - a thing which, like licentiousness, usually exerts a powerful influence over the teachers of error. The religious principle is the strongest that is implanted in the human bosom: and men who can obtain a livelihood in no other way, or who are too unprincipled or too indolent to labor for an honest living, often turn public teachers of religion, and adopt the kind of doctrines that will be likely to give them the greatest power over the purses of others. True religion, indeed, requires of its friends to devote all that they have to the service of God and to the promotion of his cause; but it is very easy to pervert this requirement, so that the teacher of error shall take advantage of it for his own aggrandizement.

Shall they with feigned words - Greek formed, fashioned; then those which are formed for the occasion - feigned, false, deceitful. The idea is, thug the doctrines which they would defend were not maintained by solid and substantial arguments, but that they would make use of plausible reasoning made up for the occasion.

Make merchandise of you - Treat you not as rational beings but as a bale of goods, or any other article of traffic. That is, they would endeavor to make money out of them, and regard them only as fitted to promote that object.

Whose judgment - Whose condemnation.

Now of a long time lingereth not - Greek, “of old; long since.” The idea seems to be, that justice had been long attentive to their movements, and was on its way to their destruction. It was not a new thing - that is, there was no new principle involved in their destruction; but it was a principle which had always been in operation, and which would certainly be applicable to them, and of a long time justice had been impatient to do the work which it was accustomed to do. What had occurred to the angels that sinned, 2 Peter 2:4 to the old world, 2 Peter 2:5 and to Sodom and Gomorrah, 2 Peter 2:6 would occur to them; and the same justice which had overthrown them might be regarded as on its way to effect their destruction. Compare the notes at Isaiah 18:4.

And their damnation slumbereth not - Their condemnation, (Notes, 1 Corinthians 11:29) yet here referring to future punishment. “Mr. Blackwell observes, that this is a most beautiful figure, representing the vengeance that shall destroy such incorrigible sinners as an angel of judgment pursuing them on the wing, continually approaching nearer and nearer, and in the mean time keeping a watchful eye upon them, that he may at length discharge an unerring blow” - Doddridge. It is not uncommon to speak of “sleepless justice;” and the idea here is, that however justice may have seemed to slumber or to linger, it was not really so, but that it had on them an everwatchful eye, and was on its way to do that which was right in regard to them. A sinner should never forget that there is an eye of unslumbering vigilance always upon him, and that everything that he does is witnessed by one who will yet render exact justice to all men. No person, however careful to conceal his sins, or however bold in transgression, or however unconcerned he may seem to be, can hope that justice will always linger, or destruction always slumber.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 2 Peter 2:3. And through covetousness — That they might get money to spend upon their lusts, with feigned words, πλαστοις λογοις, with counterfeit tales, false narrations, of pretended facts, lying miracles, fabulous legends. "In this single sentence," says Dr. Macknight, "there is a clear prediction of the iniquitous practices of those great merchants of souls, the Romish clergy, who have rated all crimes, even the most atrocious, at a fixed price; so that if their doctrine be true, whoever pays the price may commit the crime without hazarding his salvation." How the popish Church has made merchandise of souls, needs no particular explanation here. It was this abominable doctrine that showed to some, then in that Church, the absolute necessity of a reformation.

Whose judgment now of a long time — From the beginning God has condemned sin, and inflicted suitable punishments on transgressors; and has promised in his word, from the earliest ages, to pour out his indignation on the wicked. The punishment, therefore, so long ago predicted, shall fall on these impure and incorrigible sinners; and the condemnation which is denounced against them slumbers not-it is alert, it is on its way, it is hurrying on, and must soon overtake them.