2 Peter 2:11–16, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
2 Peter 2:11–16
Arrogant Appetite Is Checked by Balaam's Rebuke
Arrogance, appetite, and Balaam's wage — without turning people into beasts
Angels greater in might do not bring a railing accusation. The teachers, by contrast, are daring, self-willed, slandering glories, reveling in the daytime, eyes full of adultery, enticing unstable souls, hearts trained in greed. They have left the straight path for Balaam son of Bosor, who loved the wages of wrongdoing and was rebuked by a voiceless donkey. The vices are named: reckless speech, sexual predation, and a prophet's gift put on the market.
The animal comparison does not authorize calling opponents vermin, beasts, subhuman, cursed races, or legitimate targets of harm. Sexual accusations need evidence, due process, and protection of complainants — not borrowed invective. Balaam's story is about wrongful gain, not a slur on any modern ethnicity. A donkey can be righter than a credentialed mouth when the mouth is for sale. That is the point. Dehumanizing the seller is not.
How this should shape us
Follow the money and the bodies. If a ministry cannot survive without inflaming desire, flattening dissenters, or keeping you slightly unstable so you need the next teaching, you are looking at Balaam's wage, not a difference of opinion. Create real reporting and financial oversight. Do not repay exploitation with animal slurs.
Teach it back
Explain 2 Peter 2:11–16 in your own words. Include its place in 2 Peter's movement, the unit's logic, one material uncertainty, and one use the context rules out.
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Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Where careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Where do careful interpreters disagree?
Best judgment: Interpreters dispute the identity of 'glories,' the exact feast reading, the opponents' concrete sexual practices, and how historical the polemical profile is. The secure ethical line is exploitation, arrogance, and greed; modern accusations require evidence rather than borrowed invective.
How certain? probableResearch trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact reader-facing Scripture wording, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
2 Peter 2:11–16, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Supports: Greek wording, clause relationships, repeated terms, and the base text used for original-language discussion.
SBLGNT official text file 2Pet.txt, 2:11–16
Supports: Verse-level Greek, syntax, KJV-era wording, textual variants, and interpretive alternatives.
NET Bible 2 Peter PDF, 2:11–16 translation and attached translator, study, and textual notes
Supports: Pro-Petrine authorship case, literary flow, Greek observations, theological synthesis, and verse-level interpretation.
Harmon and Sloat, 2 Peter, section 2:11–16, with Author and Recipients, Theology, Purpose, outline, bibliography, and endnotes
Supports: The limited inspected record supports only the argument that 2 Peter 2:1–3:3 freely paraphrases and thoroughly reworks Jude 4–18.
Callan, Biblica 85.1 (2004), official abstract for pp. 42–64 and publicly visible opening at p. 42
Supports: The limited inspected abstract maps the angels–flood–Sodom sequence, Balaam expansion, dependence proposal, and proposed warning function.
Devivo dissertation repository record (2014), complete abstract paragraphs describing Jude 5–11 // 2 Peter 2:4–16
Supports: The limited inspected extract supports restraint about reconstructing the teachers because the polemic attacks wickedness and destruction without directly refuting a fully stated teaching.
Smith, 'Peter, Pseudepigraphy, and Polemics,' JSTOR official chapter metadata pp. 627–646 and publicly visible opening extract
Supports: Independent morphology, form, and lexical-range cross-check for material Greek claims.
STEP Bible Data repository, Greek morphology and lexical records for 2 Peter 2:11–16
Supports: Historical-critical orientation, genre, authorship and date alternatives, audience limits, whole-letter movement, and theological themes.
Enter the Bible 2 Peter course, Summary, Outline, Background, Introductory Issues, and Theological Themes; applied to 2 Peter 2:11–16
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing Scripture wording, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
Exact location: 2 Peter 2:11–16, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗Greek textual evidence
The Greek New Testament: SBL Edition
Michael W. Holmes, editor; Society of Biblical Literature and Logos
Society of Biblical Literature and Logos Bible Software, 2010
Supports: Greek wording, clause relationships, repeated terms, and the base text used for original-language discussion.
Exact location: SBLGNT official text file 2Pet.txt, 2:11–16
Open the 2 Peter Greek text file ↗Translation and textual notes
NET Bible — 2 Peter with translators' and textual notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2005–2026 online edition
Supports: Verse-level Greek, syntax, KJV-era wording, textual variants, and interpretive alternatives.
Exact location: NET Bible 2 Peter PDF, 2:11–16 translation and attached translator, study, and textual notes
Open the official NET 2 Peter PDF ↗modern open commentary
2 Peter
Matthew Harmon and John Sloat
The Gospel Coalition Bible Commentary, 2023
Supports: Pro-Petrine authorship case, literary flow, Greek observations, theological synthesis, and verse-level interpretation.
Exact location: Harmon and Sloat, 2 Peter, section 2:11–16, with Author and Recipients, Theology, Purpose, outline, bibliography, and endnotes
Open source ↗peer reviewed article abstract
Use of the Letter of Jude by the Second Letter of Peter
Terrance Callan
Biblica 85.1, 2004
Supports: The limited inspected record supports only the argument that 2 Peter 2:1–3:3 freely paraphrases and thoroughly reworks Jude 4–18.
Exact location: Callan, Biblica 85.1 (2004), official abstract for pp. 42–64 and publicly visible opening at p. 42
Open source ↗doctoral dissertation abstract
2 Peter 2:4–16: The Redaction of the Biblical and Intertestamental References Dependent on Jude 5–11 and Their Overall Significance for the Document
Jenny Devivo
Loyola University Chicago eCommons, 2014
Supports: The limited inspected abstract maps the angels–flood–Sodom sequence, Balaam expansion, dependence proposal, and proposed warning function.
Exact location: Devivo dissertation repository record (2014), complete abstract paragraphs describing Jude 5–11 // 2 Peter 2:4–16
Open source ↗peer reviewed book chapter extract
Peter, Pseudepigraphy, and Polemics: Deviance and ‘False Teachers’ in 2 Peter
Daniel A. Smith
Peeters Publishers, in Peter in the Early Church, 2021
Supports: The limited inspected extract supports restraint about reconstructing the teachers because the polemic attacks wickedness and destruction without directly refuting a fully stated teaching.
Exact location: Smith, 'Peter, Pseudepigraphy, and Polemics,' JSTOR official chapter metadata pp. 627–646 and publicly visible opening extract
Open source ↗Lexical and grammatical evidence
STEP Bible Data
Tyndale House Cambridge
Tyndale House Cambridge, repository snapshot verified 2026
Supports: Independent morphology, form, and lexical-range cross-check for material Greek claims.
Exact location: STEP Bible Data repository, Greek morphology and lexical records for 2 Peter 2:11–16
Open source ↗modern scholarly book introduction
2 Peter course: summary, outline, background, introductory issues, and theological themes
David Stewart; revised by Matthew L. Skinner
Enter the Bible, Luther Seminary, 2023 revision
Supports: Historical-critical orientation, genre, authorship and date alternatives, audience limits, whole-letter movement, and theological themes.
Exact location: Enter the Bible 2 Peter course, Summary, Outline, Background, Introductory Issues, and Theological Themes; applied to 2 Peter 2:11–16
Open source ↗