Charles Ellicott Commentary 2 Peter 2:17

"These are springs without water, and mists driven by a storm; for whom the blackness of darkness hath been reserved." — 2 Peter 2:17 (ASV)

These are wells.—Or, springs; this is the same word as in John 4:6. These men are like dried-up watering-places in the desert, which entice and mock the thirsty traveler, perhaps also leading him into danger by drawing him from places where there is water. (Jeremiah 14:3.)

The parallel passage, Jude 1:12–13, is much more full than the one before us, and is more like an amplification of this than this a condensation of that—e.g., would a simile so admirably suitable to false guides as wandering stars have been neglected by the writer of our Epistle? A Hebrew word which occurs only twice in the Old Testament is translated by the LXX in one place (Genesis 2:6) by the word used here for “well,” and in the other (Job 36:27) by the word used in Jude 1:12 for “cloud.”

Thus the same Hebrew might have produced wells without water here and clouds without water in Jude. This is one of the arguments used in favor of a Hebrew original of both these Epistles. Coincidences of this kind, which may easily be mere accidents of language, must be shown to be numerous before a solid argument can be based upon them. Moreover, we must remember that the writers in both cases were Jews, writing in Greek, while thinking probably in Hebrew, so that the same Hebrew thought might suggest a different Greek expression in the two cases. When we have deducted all that might easily be accounted for in this way, and also all that is perhaps purely accidental, from the not very numerous instances of a similar kind that have been collected, we will not find much on which to build the hypothesis of these Epistles being translations from Hebrew originals. (See Introduction to Jude, II.)

Clouds that are carried with a tempest.—Better, mists driven by the storm-wind. Wycliffe has “myistis.” The words for “clouds” and “carried about” in Jude 1:12 are quite different, so that our version creates a false impression of great similarity. The idea is not very different from that of wells without water. These mists promise refreshment to the thirsty soil (Genesis 2:6), and are so flimsy that they are blown away before they do any good. So these false teachers deceived those who were thirsting for the knowledge and liberty promised them by raising hopes which they could not satisfy.

To whom the mist of darkness.—Better, for whom the gloom of darkness. (See Note on Jude 1:6.) For ever lacks authority; the words have probably been inserted from the parallel passage in Jude.