Bible Strands
2 Peter 2:13
The harm they will suffer is the wages of their wickedness. They consider it a pleasure to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deception as they feast with you.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Peter addresses false teachers infiltrating the community, immediately following his comparison of them to irrational animals destined for destruction (2 Peter 2:12) and preceding his description of their insatiable lust and greed (2 Peter 2:14).
The words — ἀδικοῦμενοι (adikoumenoi) means "suffering" and μισθὸν (misthon) means "wage," structuring the claim that their harm is the direct payment for their unrighteousness. ἡδονὴν (hēdonēn) translates as "pleasure" and ἡγοῦμενοι (hēgoumenoi) as "esteeming," describing how they treat daytime carousing as a deliberate delight.
The thread — The principle of measured retribution for sin aligns with Hebrews 2:2's assertion that every transgression receives its just punishment, while the condemnation of open debauchery mirrors the warning in Romans 13:13 against behaving in carousing and drunkenness.
Why it lands — The text establishes that the suffering these individuals face is not arbitrary but the calculated outcome of their own unrighteous actions, and it requires readers to reject the normalization of sin by recognizing the moral bankruptcy of their public deception.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you;
Cross-references
- Romans 13:13 Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy.
- Romans 2:8 But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow wickedness, there will be wrath and anger.
- Hebrews 2:2 For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every transgression and disobedience received its just punishment,
- Philippians 3:19 Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and their glory is in their shame. Their minds are set on earthly things.
- Ephesians 5:27 and to present her to Himself as a glorious church, without stain or wrinkle or any such blemish, but holy and blameless.
- 1 Peter 4:4 Because of this, they consider it strange of you not to plunge with them into the same flood of reckless indiscretion, and they heap abuse on you.
- Jude 1:12 These men are hidden reefs in your love feasts, shamelessly feasting with you but shepherding only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried along by the wind; fruitless trees in autumn, twice dead after being uprooted.
- 1 Thessalonians 5:7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night.
- Isaiah 3:11 Woe to the wicked; disaster is upon them! For they will be repaid with what their hands have done.
- 1 Corinthians 11:20 Now then, when you come together, it is not the Lord’s Supper you eat.