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2 Pedro 2

BLIVRE · Chapter 2/3

1E também houve falsos profetas entre o povo, assim como também haverá falsos instrutores entre vós, que disfarçadamente introduzirão heresias de perdição, e negarão ao Senhor que os comprou, trazendo sobre eles mesmos repentina destruição.

2Muitos seguirão suas perdições, e por meio deles o caminho da verdade será insultado.

3E por ganância, eles vos farão de mercadoria com palavras falsamente inventadas; sobre os quais desde muito tempo não está a condenação sem efeito, e sua perdição não cochila.

4Porque se Deus não perdoou aos anjos que pecaram, em vez disso lançando-os no inferno, entregou-os às cadeias da escuridão, tendo sido reservados para o julgamento;

5Nem perdoou ao mundo antigo, mas guardou a Noé, anunciador da justiça, com outros sete, trazendo o dilúvio sobre o mundo dos ímpios;

6E condenou as cidades de Sodoma e Gomorra à destruição, reduzindo-as a cinza, e pondo-as como exemplo para os que vivessem impiamente;

7E livrou ao justo Ló, [que estava] cansado do corrupto modo de viver dos maus.

8(Porque, [enquanto] aquele justo habitava entre eles, todo dia ele atormentava sua justa alma, ao ver e ouvir as [suas] injustas obras).

9[Assim] o Senhor sabe livrar os devotos das tentações, e reservar aos injustos para o dia do julgamento, para serem punidos.

10Porém principalmente aos que segundo a carne andam em mau desejo de impureza, e desprezam as autoridades; atrevidos, agradando a si mesmos, não tendo medo de insultar as [coisas dignas de] glórias.

11Ainda que [até] os anjos, sendo maiores em força e poder, não trazem juízo insultuoso contra elas diante do Senhor.

12Mas estes, como animais irracionais, que seguem a natureza, gerados para a prisão e destruição, insultando aquilo que não entendem, perecerão na sua própria corrupção;

13recebendo o pagamento da injustiça, tendo como prazer seus maus desejos durante o dia, sendo manchas e defeitos, tendo prazer em seus enganos, participando do banquete convosco;

14tendo os olhos cheios de adultério, e nunca parando de pecar; iludindo as almas inconstantes, tendo o coração exercitado na ganância, filhos da maldição;

15os quais, havendo deixado o caminho direito, desviaram-se, seguindo o caminho de Balaão, [filho] de Bosor, que amou o pagamento da injustiça.

16Mas ele teve a repreensão de sua transgressão; o mudo animal de jugo, falando em voz humana, impediu a loucura do profeta.

17Estes são fontes sem água, nuvens levadas pela tempestade; para os quais a escuridão das trevas está reservada para sempre.

18Porque ao falarem coisas muito arrogantes de vaidade, iludem com os maus desejos da carne, [e] com perversões, aqueles que já tinham realmente escapado dos que andam no erro.

19Prometendo-lhes liberdade, [mas] sendo eles mesmos servos da corrupção; porque aquele de quem alguém é vencido, do tal também se faz servo.

20Porque se, por causa do conhecimento do Senhor e Salvador Jesus Cristo, tiverem escapado das imundícies do mundo, e novamente se envolverem nelas, e forem vencidos, o fim será pior que o começo.

21Porque melhor teria lhes sido se não tivessem conhecido o caminho da justiça do que, depois de conhecerem, terem se desviado do santo mandamento que havia lhes sido entregue.

22Mas isto lhes sobreveio [conforme] um verdadeiro provérbio, [que diz] : O cão voltou ao seu próprio vômito; e a porca lavada [voltou] ao chiqueiro da lama.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Peter issues a strong warning against false teachers who will arise, introducing destructive heresies, comparing their fate to that of the angels who sinned and to the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. He contrasts the judgment of these corrupters with the protection God gave to Noah and Lot.

Explanation

Peter uses three biblical examples of judgment — the rebellious angels, Noah's flood, and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah — to show a historical pattern: God judges wickedness, but He also always rescues the faithful in the midst of judgment, as He did with Noah and Lot. The description of the false teachers, driven by greed and sexual immorality, suggests that the church was facing concrete problems with corrupt leaders exploiting the community. The reference to the story of Balaam, whose donkey spoke to restrain his madness, comes from Numbers 22 and reinforces that even an irrational creature can show more discernment than a prophet corrupted by greed. Today's practical application is to exercise critical discernment toward religious leaders, evaluating their character and not just their speech.

Fun facts

  • The episode of Balaam's talking donkey (mentioned in 2:16) is one of the rare cases in the Bible where an animal communicates verbally, originally recorded in Numbers 22:21-35, when the animal saw an angel that Balaam could not see.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. 2 Pedro 2:1Opens the chapter on false teachers by comparing them to the false prophets of the Old Testament: they don’t arrive declaring themselves enemies of the faith, but introduce errors in disguise, from within the community itself.
  2. 2 Pedro 2:2Warns of the practical effect of these false teachers: many will follow them, and as a result the Christian faith itself — “the way of truth” — ends up being discredited because of it.
  3. 2 Pedro 2:3Points out the motive behind these false teachings: greed disguised as spiritual talk — and assures that judgment on them is already on its way, even if it seems slow in coming.
  4. 2 Pedro 2:4The reference to “the angels that sinned” being cast into hell — in Greek a specific word used only here in the New Testament — and bound in chains of darkness draws on a Jewish tradition about rebellious heavenly beings, without spelling out exactly which biblical episode lies behind it.
  5. 2 Pedro 2:5Calling Noah “the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness” is a way of counting the eight people saved in the flood — Noah, his wife, his three sons, and their wives — while also describing Noah as someone who preached about righteousness before the flood, a detail Genesis itself does not directly report.
  6. 2 Pedro 2:6The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, told in Genesis 19, is used here as a historical example of judgment on cities that lived in a way considered ungodly, serving as a warning about future consequences.
  7. 2 Pedro 2:7Cites Lot, Abraham’s nephew, living in Sodom, as an example of someone who suffered simply from living near the evil around him — yet whom God still rescued before the city’s destruction.
  8. 2 Pedro 2:8Details Lot’s inner suffering: witnessing the unjust behavior around him day after day distressed him, even though he took no direct part in it.
  9. 2 Pedro 2:9Sums up the lesson of the previous examples (the flood, Sodom): God knows how to protect the faithful in the midst of evil just as well as He knows how to keep the unjust for a future judgment.
  10. 2 Pedro 2:10Begins describing in more detail the behavior of the false teachers: ruled by unclean desires, arrogant, and without respect for authority — whether human or spiritual.
  11. 2 Pedro 2:11Draws a contrast: even angels, who have more power than these false teachers, do not dare speak evil of superior spiritual beings before God — highlighting the arrogance of these men.
  12. 2 Pedro 2:12Compares the false teachers to animals driven only by instinct, without reflection — criticizing things they don’t even understand, and destined, according to the text, to destroy themselves through their own behavior.
  13. 2 Pedro 2:13Describes these false teachers taking part in the community meals of Christians while secretly living corrupt lives — a hypocrisy that makes them, according to the text, a stain on the community.
  14. 2 Pedro 2:14Continues the list of charges: uncontrolled sexual desire, greed trained like a habit, and the ability to manipulate people whose faith is still unstable.
  15. 2 Pedro 2:15Balaam is a figure from the book of Numbers, a prophet hired to curse Israel who ended up prevented by God from doing so — here he is cited as an example of someone who loved “the wages of unrighteousness,” meaning he let himself be driven by payment rather than faithfulness.
  16. 2 Pedro 2:16The episode of the mute donkey speaking with “man’s voice” recalls the story, also in Numbers, of an animal that reportedly stopped Balaam from going ahead with a mistaken action — cited here as something that corrected the prophet’s madness before he could cause greater harm.
  17. 2 Pedro 2:17Uses images of disappointment: a well without water or a cloud without rain promise something they don’t deliver — just as these false teachers promise spiritual wisdom without having anything real to offer.
  18. 2 Pedro 2:18Explains the tactic of these false teachers: grand, empty speeches used to lure back into error people who were just beginning to leave that kind of life behind.
  19. 2 Pedro 2:19Points out the central irony: they sell freedom, yet are themselves slaves to their own vices — the text defines slavery as being dominated by whatever controls a person’s behavior.
  20. 2 Pedro 2:20Warns of the risk of falling back after having known the faith: returning to an old error after having escaped it leaves a person in a worse situation than if they had never known the right path at all.
  21. 2 Pedro 2:21Reinforces the previous point with a direct comparison: as strange as it may sound, the text says it would be better never to have known the truth than to know it and later abandon it.
  22. 2 Pedro 2:22The proverb of the “dog” that returned to its own vomit, and the washed sow that returns to wallowing in the mire, describes people who, even after knowing a better path, go back to old behaviors — not a direct biblical quotation, but a popular saying used to illustrate the point.

Chapters

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