Bible Strands
2 Peter 2:15
They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Beor, who loved the wages of wickedness.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Peter addresses his readers concerning the conduct of false teachers who have infiltrated the community. He contrasts their behavior with the faithful path expected of those who know God.
The words — καταλείποντες (kataleipontes) means leaving or abandoning, and ἐπλανήθησαν (eplanēthēsan) denotes having gone astray or wandered off course. These participles frame the false teachers' departure from orthodoxy as an active, ongoing deviation.
The thread — The text explicitly links this deviation to the way of Balaam son of Beor, echoing Revelation 2:14, Jude 1:11, and Deuteronomy 23:4. These passages consistently associate Balaam with profiting from sin and leading others into compromise.
Why it lands — The text states that these individuals abandoned the straight path to pursue Balaam's route, which was driven by love for the wages of wickedness. Readers must examine whether their own commitments are shaped by loyalty to God or by the pursuit of sinful gain.
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
Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;
Cross-references
- Revelation 2:14 But I have a few things against you, because some of you hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to place a stumbling block before the Israelites so they would eat food sacrificed to idols and commit sexual immorality.
- Jude 1:11 Woe to them! They have traveled the path of Cain; they have rushed for profit into the error of Balaam; they have perished in Korah’s rebellion.
- Deuteronomy 23:4 For they did not meet you with food and water on your way out of Egypt, and they hired Balaam son of Beor from Pethor in Aram-naharaim to curse you.
- Numbers 22:5 he sent messengers to summon Balaam son of Beor at Pethor, which is by the Euphrates in the land of his people. “Behold, a people has come out of Egypt,” said Balak. “They cover the face of the land and have settled next to me.
- Numbers 31:16 “Look, these women caused the sons of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to turn unfaithfully against the LORD at Peor, so that the plague struck the congregation of the LORD.
- Nehemiah 13:2 because they had not met the Israelites with food and water, but had hired Balaam to call down a curse against them (although our God had turned the curse into a blessing).
- Micah 6:5 My people, remember what Balak king of Moab counseled and what Balaam son of Beor answered. Remember your journey from Shittim to Gilgal, so that you may acknowledge the righteousness of the LORD.’”
- Proverbs 28:4 Those who forsake the law praise the wicked, but those who keep the law resist them.
- Acts 1:18 (Now with the reward for his wickedness Judas bought a field; there he fell headlong and burst open in the middle, and all his intestines spilled out.
- Acts 13:10 and said, “O child of the devil and enemy of all righteousness, you are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery! Will you never stop perverting the straight ways of the Lord?