II Peter 2:6
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if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction, reducing them to ashes as an example of what is coming on the ungodly;
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
with, &c.--"TO overthrow" [ALFORD]. ensample--"of (the fate that should befall) those who in after-time should live ungodly." Compare Jde 1:7, "set forth for an example."
Open source ↗The apostle, having in the foregoing chapter exhorted them to proceed and advance in the Christian race, now comes to remove, as much as in him lay, what he could not but apprehend would hinder their complying with his exhortation. He therefore gives them fair warning of false teachers, by whom they might be in danger of being seduced. To prevent this, I. He describes these seducers as impious in themselves, and very pernicious to others (Pe2 2:1-3). II. He assures them of the punishment that shall be inflicted on them (Pe2 2:3-6). III. He tells us how contrary the method is which God takes with those who fear him (Pe2 2:7-9). IV. He fills up the rest of the chapter with a further description of those seducers of whom he would have them beware.
Open source ↗2:6 The third example of judgment is that God condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. The people of these cities were so immoral that God rained down sulfur from heaven to destroy them (Gen 19:24). Peter focuses on the result of this action: The cities were turned into heaps of ashes.
Open source ↗Original language
The Hebrew and Greek words behind this passage, with Strong's numbers — from openscriptures (CC BY-SA).
Cross-references
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In like manner, Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, who indulged in sexual immorality and pursued strange flesh, are on display as an example of those who sustain the punishment of eternal fire.
All its soil will be a burning waste of sulfur and salt, unsown and unproductive, with no plant growing on it, just like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the LORD overthrew in His fierce anger.
And the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them along with Korah, whose followers died when the fire consumed 250 men. They serve as a warning sign.
As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah along with their neighbors,” declares the LORD, “no one will dwell there; no man will abide there.
And Babylon, the jewel of the kingdoms, the glory of the pride of the Chaldeans, will be overthrown by God like Sodom and Gomorrah.
Therefore, as surely as I live,” declares the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, “surely Moab will be like Sodom and the Ammonites like Gomorrah— a place of weeds and salt pits, a perpetual wasteland. The remnant of My people will plunder them; the remainder of My nation will dispossess them.”
Now these things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come.
“Some of you I overthrew as I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were like a firebrand snatched from a blaze, yet you did not return to Me,” declares the LORD.
He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and all the land of the plain, and he saw the smoke rising from the land like smoke from a furnace.
How could I give you up, O Ephraim? How could I surrender you, O Israel? How could I make you like Admah? How could I treat you like Zeboiim? My heart is turned within Me; My compassion is stirred!