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Wednesday, July 16th, 2025
the Week of Proper 10 / Ordinary 15
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Read the Bible

Simplified Cowboy Version

2 Peter 2:17

These people are like dried up dirt tanks. They drift away like the clouds after a storm. They have a place in the forever-dark prepared for them by God.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Anarchy;   Apostasy;   Doctrines;   Hypocrisy;   Meteorology and Celestial Phenomena;   Minister, Christian;   Mist;   Wells;   Wicked (People);   Scofield Reference Index - Apostasy;   Thompson Chain Reference - Clouds;   Darkness;   Fate of the Wicked;   Light-Darkness;   Mercy;   Meteorology;   Mists;   Righteous-Wicked;   Wicked, the;   The Topic Concordance - Corruption;   Folly;   Prophecy and Prophets;   Servants;   Speech/communication;   Straying;   Teaching;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Apostates;   Clouds;   Darkness;   Death, Eternal;   Punishment of the Wicked, the;   Steadfastness;   Wells;   Wicked, the, Are Compared to;  

Dictionaries:

- Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Darkness;   Hell;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Color, Symbolic Meaning of;   Hell;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Cloud;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Nicolaitans;   Peter, the Epistles of;   Timothy, the First Epistle to;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Clouds;   Mist;   2 Peter;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Canon of the New Testament;   Peter, Second Epistle of;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Colours;   False Prophets;   Formalism;   Hell;   Light and Darkness;   Peter Epistles of;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Hell;   Wells;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Jude, Epistle of;   Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types - Well;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Blackness;   Cistern;   Mist;   Peter, Simon;   Peter, the Second Epistle of;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
These people are springs without water, mists driven by a storm. The gloom of darkness has been reserved for them.
King James Version (1611)
These are welles without water, cloudes that are caried with a tempest, to whom the mist of darkenesse is reserued for euer.
King James Version
These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever.
English Standard Version
These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm. For them the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved.
New American Standard Bible
These are springs without water and mists driven by a storm, for whom the black darkness has been reserved.
New Century Version
Those false teachers are like springs without water and clouds blown by a storm. A place in the blackest darkness has been kept for them.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
These are springs without water and mists driven by a storm, for whom the black darkness has been reserved.
Berean Standard Bible
These men are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them.
Contemporary English Version
These people are like dried up water holes and clouds blown by a windstorm. The darkest part of hell is waiting for them.
Complete Jewish Bible
Waterless springs they are, mists driven by a gust of wind; for them has been reserved the blackest darkness.
Darby Translation
These are springs without water, and mists driven by storm, to whom the gloom of darkness is reserved [for ever].
Easy-to-Read Version
These false teachers are like springs that have no water. They are like clouds that are blown by a storm. A place in the deepest darkness has been kept for them.
Geneva Bible (1587)
These are welles without water, and cloudes caried about with a tempest, to whome the blacke darkenes is reserued for euer.
George Lamsa Translation
These men are springs without water, as clouds that are carried with a tempest; the mist of darkness is reserved to them forever.
Good News Translation
These people are like dried-up springs, like clouds blown along by a storm; God has reserved a place for them in the deepest darkness.
Lexham English Bible
These people are waterless springs and mists driven by a hurricane, for whom the gloom of darkness has been reserved.
Literal Translation
These are springs without water, clouds being driven by tempest, for whom the blackness of darkness has been kept to the ages.
Amplified Bible
These [false teachers] are springs without water and mists driven by a tempest, for whom is reserved the gloom of black darkness.
American Standard Version
These are springs without water, and mists driven by a storm; for whom the blackness of darkness hath been reserved.
Bible in Basic English
These are fountains without water, and mists before a driving storm; for whom the eternal night is kept in store.
Hebrew Names Version
These are wells without water, clouds driven by a storm; for whom the blackness of darkness has been reserved forever.
International Standard Version
These men are dried-up springs, mere clouds driven by a storm. Gloomy darkness is reserved for them.Jude 1:12-13;">[xr]
Etheridge Translation
These are wells without water, clouds driven from above, unto whom the blackness of darkness is reserved.
Murdock Translation
These are wells without water, clouds driven by a tempest, persons for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
These are welles without water, cloudes that are caryed with a tempest, to whom the mist of darknesse is reserued for euer.
English Revised Version
These are springs without water, and mists driven by a storm; for whom the blackness of darkness hath been reserved.
World English Bible
These are wells without water, clouds driven by a storm; for whom the blackness of darkness has been reserved forever.
Wesley's New Testament (1755)
These are wells without water, clouds driven by a tempest, to whom the blackness of darkness is reserved for ever.
Weymouth's New Testament
These people are wells without water, mists driven along by a storm, men for whom the dense darkness has been reserved.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
These ben wellis with out watir, and mystis dryuun with `whirlinge wyndys, to whiche the thicke mijst of derknessis is reseruyd.
Update Bible Version
These are springs without water, and mists driven by a storm; for whom the blackness of darkness has been reserved.
Webster's Bible Translation
These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever.
New English Translation
These men are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm, for whom the utter depths of darkness have been reserved.
New King James Version
These are wells without water, clouds [fn] carried by a tempest, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. [fn]
New Living Translation
These people are as useless as dried-up springs or as mist blown away by the wind. They are doomed to blackest darkness.
New Life Bible
Such people are like wells without water. They are like clouds before a storm. The darkest place below has been kept for them.
New Revised Standard
These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm; for them the deepest darkness has been reserved.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
These, are fountains without water, and mists, by a tempest, driven along, - for whom, the gloom of darkness, hath been reserved;
Douay-Rheims Bible
These are fountains without water and clouds tossed with whirlwinds, to whom the mist of darkness is reserved.
Revised Standard Version
These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm; for them the nether gloom of darkness has been reserved.
Tyndale New Testament (1525)
These are welles without water and cloudes caried about of a tepest to whome the myst of darcknes is reserved for ever.
Young's Literal Translation
These are wells without water, and clouds by a tempest driven, to whom the thick gloom of the darkness to the age hath been kept;
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
These are welles without water, & cloudes caried aboute of a tepest: to who ye myst of darknesse is reserued foreuer.
Mace New Testament (1729)
These are wells without water; clouds agitated with a tempest, who are consigned to the obscurity of eternal darkness.
THE MESSAGE
There's nothing to these people—they're dried-up fountains, storm-scattered clouds, headed for a black hole in hell. They are loudmouths, full of hot air, but still they're dangerous. Men and women who have recently escaped from a deviant life are most susceptible to their brand of seduction. They promise these newcomers freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption, for if they're addicted to corruption—and they are—they're enslaved.

Contextual Overview

10This is especially true of those who travel down the trail of lust and shun God's authority in their lives.These counterfeit cowboys are bold and show-offs. They show no respect for the glorious creatures of heaven, but instead make fun of everything that is holy. 11Even angels, with all their might and power, do not condemn or make fun of anyone before God—not even the counterfeit cowboys. That's because the angels are smart and the counterfeits are not. 12These types of folks are like badgers. They live only by instinct and base emotions. They live their lives like they are born to be captured or killed. They attack anything they don't understand or agree upon with insults and vile sarcasm. They will be destroyed as surely as a wolf preying upon the shepherd's flock. 13Their punishment will be the suffering they caused paid back in kind. They love to shock others in broad daylight with satisfaction of the lustful, bodily hungers. They disgrace your table when you let them join you in a meal. Especially when you delight in the sinful ways. 14They eat you up with their adulterous eyes and their sinful desires are never satisfied or satiated. The weak among you fall into their devilish traps and snares. They are well-trained and practiced in greed—masters of the trade. Despite it all, they live under the curse of God. 15They have left the narrow trail and wander lost in the abyss. They have followed the trail of Balaam, who traded what was right for what was profitable. 16It was so bad that he was rebuked by his donkey who spoke with a human voice and stopped him from becoming completely insane in his greed. 17These people are like dried up dirt tanks. They drift away like the clouds after a storm. They have a place in the forever-dark prepared for them by God. 18They yell loudly and make ignorant statements about anything and everything. They use their bodies to trap people in lust. They prey upon the weak of body and mind. I'm talking about those who are trying to get away from that kind of life, but continue to go back again and again to sin. 19They promise freedom, but really offer slavery to sin and corruption. You are a slave to whatever controls you.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

are wells: Job 6:14-17, Jeremiah 14:3, Hosea 6:4, Jude 1:12, Jude 1:13

clouds: Ephesians 4:14

mist: "The blackness, זןצןע [Strong's G2217], of darkness," darkness itself, says Leigh.

darkness: 2 Peter 2:4, Matthew 8:12, Matthew 22:13, Matthew 25:30, Jude 1:6, Jude 1:13

Reciprocal: Exodus 10:21 - darkness 1 Samuel 2:9 - be silent Job 15:30 - depart Psalms 105:28 - sent Isaiah 64:9 - remember Jeremiah 2:13 - broken cisterns Jeremiah 23:36 - for every Matthew 15:14 - And if Luke 7:24 - A reed John 8:12 - shall not Acts 13:11 - a mist Romans 11:10 - their eyes Philippians 3:19 - end 2 Thessalonians 1:9 - be James 1:6 - he

Cross-References

Romans 1:32
They know this type of life leads to death, but they continue on like it's a joke. The only people they like are the ones who go with them toward the cliff.
Romans 6:16
Don't you know that when ya hire onto an outfit, ya gotta do things the way they do 'em—whether ya hire onto sin's outfit, which leads to death, or ya sign on to ride for the Lord, which leads to life.
Romans 8:2
Because you ride with him, the power of life he offers trumps the power of death sin offers.
1 Corinthians 15:22
I'm talking about how sin entered the world through Adam, and now, eternal life is waiting on us all through Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 15:56
Death's power to sting is sin, and the power of sin is the code.
Galatians 3:10
But those who trust in rules to make 'em right with God are cursed. The Good Book says, "Cursed is the cowboy who doesn't follow all the rules and obey them completely."
Ephesians 5:14
No one can hide from God's light. This is why this was spoken, "Get up sleeper, rise from your grave, and Christ will light your way."
Colossians 2:13
You were dead in your sin, but God made you alive in Christ.
1 Timothy 5:6
But keep a wary eye out for widows who don't really need help, but get the attention they desire with tearful sob stories. A woman who'd do that is dead already.
1 John 5:16
If you see a fellow cowboy doing something he shouldn't, you should pray for him and God will hear the prayer and bring him back. That's not to say there is a possibility someone could do something so heinous that God would turn their back on them. Possibly something as bad as turning their backs on God. Praying for that guy probably wouldn't do a lot of good.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

These are wells without water,.... Which look large and deep, promise much, and have nothing in them; so these men looked like angels of light, transformed themselves as ministers of righteousness, had a form of godliness, and boasted of their great knowledge; promised great advantages to their followers, but were like deceitful brooks, or dry wells, and so disappointed those that came to them, and attended on them; having nothing but the filth and slime of error and iniquity, being destitute both of the grace of God, comparable to water, and of the truth of heavenly doctrine, which is like the rain that fills the wells, pools, and fountains.

Clouds that are carried with a tempest; these false teachers may be compared to clouds for their number, for many antichrists and false prophets soon came into the world; and for their sudden rise in the churches, into which they crept privily and unawares; and because of the general darkness they spread, for when errors and heresies prevail it is a dark and cloudy day with the churches, a day of gloominess and darkness, of thick darkness, a day of trouble, rebuke, and blasphemy; and because of the height of them, especially light clouds, as these are compared to, who are high in their own conceits and imaginations, and think, and give out themselves to be some great persons; and also because of their sudden destruction, which lingers and slumbers not, but comes upon them in a moment, and their glory passes away like the morning cloud: and these may be said to be as clouds "carried with a tempest": of their own lusts and passions, by which they are governed, and are led, and carried away with the force of them, and have no power to resist them, being under the dominion of them, and captives to them; and of Satan's temptations, who works effectually in them, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness, and being taken in his snare, are led captive by him at his will: Jude says, "carried about of winds", Judges 1:12, with every wind of false doctrine, like meteors in the air; are never at a point, always unsteady and unsettled, and ready to embrace every new and upstart notion:

to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever; the nature of their punishment is expressed by "darkness", the blackest darkness, the mist of darkness, and which Jude calls blackness of darkness, the same with utter darkness; and which signifies a most forlorn and uncomfortable condition, and is a righteous judgment, and just retaliation upon them who studied to darken counsel by words without knowledge; and the certainty of their punishment is signified by its being "reserved", even as the happiness of the saints, and the safety and sureness of it are represented by an inheritance reserved in heaven: and as God has his treasures, magazines, and stores of grace and mercy, felicity and glory, for his people; so he has his wrath and vengeance reserved, laid up in store with him, and sealed up among his treasures, which he will surely bring forth in his own time: and the duration of this punishment is "for ever"; it is a worm that never dies, a fire that is never quenched, Isaiah 66:24 Mark 9:44; it is everlasting fire and burnings, the smoke of which ascends for ever and ever.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

These are wells without water - Jude 1:12-13 employs several other epithets to describe the same class of persons. The language employed both by Peter and Jude is singularly terse, pointed, and emphatic. Nothing to an oriental mind would be more expressive than to say of professed religious teachers, that they were “wells without water.” It was always a sad disappointment to a traveler in the hot sands of the desert to come to a well where it was expected that water might be found, and to find it dry. It only aggravated the trials of the thirsty and weary traveler. Such were these religious teachers. In a world, not unaptly compared, in regard to its real comforts, to the wastes and sands of the desert, they would only grievously disappoint the expectations of all those who were seeking for the refreshing influences of the truths of the gospel. There are many such teachers in the world.

Clouds that are carried with a tempest - Clouds that are driven about by the wind, and that send down no rain upon the earth. They promise rain, only to be followed by disappointment. Substantially the same idea is conveyed by this as by the previous phrase. “The Arabs compare persons who put on the appearance of virtue, when yet they are destitute of all goodness, to a light cloud which makes a show of rain, and afterward vanishes” - Benson. The sense is this: The cloud, as it rises, promises rain. The expectation of the farmer is excited that the thirsty earth is to be refreshed with needful showers. Instead of this, however, the wind “gets into” the cloud; it is driven about, and no rain falls, or it ends in a destructive tornado which sweeps everything before it. So of these religious teachers. Instruction in regard to the way of salvation was expected from them; but, instead of that, they disappointed the expectations of those who were desirous of knowing the way of life, and their doctrines only tended to destroy.

To whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever - The word rendered “mist” here, (ζόφος zophos,) means properly muskiness, thick gloom, darkness, (see 2 Peter 2:4); and the phrase “mist of darkness” is designed to denote “intense” darkness, or the thickest darkness. It refers undoubtedly to the place of future punishment, which is often represented as a place of intense darkness. See the notes at Matthew 8:12. When it is said that this is “reserved” for them, it means that it is prepared for them, or is kept in a state of readiness to receive them. It is like a jail or penitentiary which is built in anticipation that there will be criminals, and with the expectation that there will be a need for it. So God has constructed the great prison-house of the universe, the world where the wicked are to dwell, with the knowledge that there would be occasion for it; and so he keeps it from age to age that it may be ready to receive the wicked when the sentence of condemnation shall be passed upon them. Compare Matthew 25:41. The word “forever” is a word which denotes properly eternity, (εἰς αἰώνα eis aiōna,) and is such a word as could not have been used if it had been meant that they would not suffer forever. Compare the notes at Matthew 25:46.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 17. These are wells without water — Persons who, by their profession, should furnish the water of life to souls athirst for salvation; but they have not this water; they are teachers without ability to instruct; they are sowers, and have no seed in their basket. Nothing is more cheering in the deserts of the east than to meet with a well of water; and nothing more distressing, when parched with thirst, than to meet with a well that contains no water.

Clouds that are carried with a tempest — In a time of great drought, to see clouds beginning to cover the face of the heavens raises the expectation of rain; but to see these carried off by a sudden tempest is a dreary disappointment. These false teachers were equally as unprofitable as the empty well, or the light, dissipated cloud.

To whom the mist of darkness is reserved — That is, an eternal separation from the presence of God, and the glory of his power. They shall be thrust into outer darkness, Matthew 8:12; into the utmost degrees of misery and despair. False and corrupt teachers will be sent into the lowest hell; and be "the most downcast, underfoot vassals of perdition."

It is scarcely necessary to notice a various reading here, which, though very different in sound, is nearly the same in sense. Instead of νεφελαι, clouds, which is the common reading, καιομιχλαι, and mists, or perhaps more properly thick darkness, from ομου, together, and αχλυς, darkness, is the reading in ABC, sixteen others, Erpen's Arabic, later Syriac, Coptic, AEthiopic, and Vulgate, and several of the fathers. This reading Griesbach has admitted into the text.


 
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