Bible Strands
2 Peter 2:14
Their eyes are full of adultery; their desire for sin is never satisfied; they seduce the unstable. They are accursed children with hearts trained in greed.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Peter warns a congregation being infiltrated by false teachers, describing their inner state and method. The moment is diagnostic: these are not merely wrong in doctrine but corrupted in appetite.
The words — δελεάζοντες (deleazontes), "enticing," comes from δέλεαρ, the bait used to catch birds or fish; it is a concrete word for luring, not a soft one. ἀκαταπαυστος (akatapaustos), "unceasing," is a compound meaning literally "un-stoppable," applied to sin as a force that cannot be stilled.
The thread — The same verb appears in 2 Peter 2:18, where those "just escaping" from the world's corruption are the target. The "wages of wickedness" language in v. 15 ties to Balaam (Numbers 31:16; Jude 11) and the greed motif of 2 Peter 2:3.
Why it lands — The verse asks you to recognize the pattern: unquenchable appetite, predatory language, and a preference for the unstable as prey. It is a test of whether you have become stable enough to see the bait.
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
Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children:
Cross-references
- 2 Peter 2:3 In their greed, these false teachers will exploit you with deceptive words. The longstanding verdict against them remains in force, and their destruction does not sleep.
- 2 Peter 2:18 With lofty but empty words, they appeal to the sensual passions of the flesh and entice those who are just escaping from others who live in error.
- Ephesians 2:3 All of us also lived among them at one time, fulfilling the cravings of our flesh and indulging its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature children of wrath.
- Romans 16:18 For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive.
- Ephesians 4:14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed about by the waves and carried around by every wind of teaching and by the clever cunning of men in their deceitful scheming.
- 2 Peter 3:16 He writes this way in all his letters, speaking in them about such matters. Some parts of his letters are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.
- Matthew 12:34 You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.
- John 5:44 How can you believe if you accept glory from one another, yet do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?
- 1 Corinthians 11:19 And indeed, there must be differences among you to show which of you are approved.
- Jeremiah 13:23 Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Neither are you able to do good—you who are accustomed to doing evil.