Verse Lens · Context pointer
2 Peter 2:17 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 17. 17These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Role in This Section
This verse begins the empty-promise sequence with waterless springs and storm-driven clouds reserved for darkness.
Read It With
- 2 Peter 2:17–22
Read 2 Peter 2:17 with 2:17–22. This verse begins the empty-promise sequence with waterless springs and storm-driven clouds reserved for darkness. The complete unit establishes this movement: Teachers who promise freedom are depicted as empty and enslaved to corruption; people who escape through knowing Jesus and return to entanglement face a worse condition, illustrated by proverbs of repeated return.
Why It Needs Context
This verse begins the empty-promise sequence with waterless springs and storm-driven clouds reserved for darkness. That contribution depends on 2 Peter 2:17–22; isolated teaching would detach the line from the letter's complete movement.
Read 2 Peter 2:17–22 together
Why these verses belong together: Empty-source images, inflated enticement, false freedom, renewed bondage, and return proverbs expose the teachers' promise.
Verse 17. 17 These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever.
Verse 18. 18 For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error.
Verse 19. 19 While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.
Verse 20. 20 For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.
Verse 21. 21 For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.
Verse 22. 22 But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read 2 Peter 2:17–22 — Promises of Freedom End in Renewed EnslavementSources used for this context pointer
How certain is this explanation? strong
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
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 2:17–22, 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, 2:17–22
Open the 2 Peter Greek text file ↗