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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comRobertson Word Pictures - 2 Peter 2:4 - 2:4
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For if God spared not (ei gar ho theos ouk epheisato). First instance (gar) of certain doom, that of the fallen angels. Condition of the first class precisely like that in Rom 11:21 save that here the normal apodosis (humōn ou pheisetai) is not expressed as there, but is simply implied in 2Pe 2:9 by oiden kurios ruesthai (the Lord knows how to deliver) after the parenthesis in 2Pe 2:8.
Angels when they sinned (aggelōn hamartēsantōn). Genitive case after epheisato (first aorist middle indicative of pheidomai) and anarthrous (so more emphatic, even angels), first aorist active participle of hamartanō, “having sinned.”
Cast them down to hell (tartarōsas). First aorist active participle of tartaroō, late word (from tartaros, old word in Homer, Pindar, lxx Job 40:15; 41:23, Philo, inscriptions, the dark and doleful abode of the wicked dead like the Gehenna of the Jews), found here alone save in a scholion on Homer. Tartaros occurs in Enoch 20:2 as the place of punishment of the fallen angels, while Gehenna is for apostate Jews.
Committed (paredōken). First aorist active indicative of paradidōmi, the very form solemnly used by Paul in Rom 1:21, Rom 1:26, Rom 1:28.
To pits of darkness (seirois zophou). Zophos (kin to gnophos, nephos) is an old word, blackness, gloom of the nether world in Homer, in N.T. only here, 2Pe 2:17; Jud 1:13; Heb 12:18. The MSS. vary between seirais (seira, chain or rope) and seirois (seiros, old word for pit, underground granary). Seirois is right (Aleph A B C), dative case of destination.
To be reserved unto judgment (eis krisin tēroumenous). Present (linear action) passive participle of tēreō. “Kept for judgment.” Cf. 1Pe 1:4. Aleph A have kolazomenous tērein as in 2Pe 2:9. Note krisis (act of judgment).