2 Peter 2:6
What does 2 Peter 2:6 mean?
A plain-English look at 2 Peter 2:6 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What 2 Peter 2:6 means
Sodom and Gomorrah stand as ash-stained monuments to divine judgment. God turned the cities into ashes, condemning them as a stark example for those who would live ungodly lives. Their fate is not merely past history; it is a warning sign on the road of moral rebellion. Sin left unrepented has a terminus, and God’s verdict is not theoretical. The ruins of those cities preach: the Lord’s patience has limits, and when the measure is full, judgment is total. This is Scripture’s way of making consequences visible to every later generation.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, having made them an example unto those that should live ungodly;
KJV
King James Version · 1611And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly;
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, having made them an example unto those that should live ungodly;
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949And sent destruction on Sodom and Gomorrah, burning them up with fire as an example to those whose way of life might in the future be unpleasing to him;
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862and the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah having turned to ashes, with an overthrow did condemn, an example to those about to be impious having set <FI>them<Fi> ;
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752And reducing the cities of the Sodomites and of the Gomorrhites into ashes, condemned them to be overthrown, making them an example to those that should after act wickedly,
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890and having reduced [the] cities of Sodom and Gomorrha to ashes, condemned [them] with an overthrow, setting [them as] an example to those that should [afterwards] live an ungodly life;
Context
After the global example of the Flood, Peter narrows to notorious cities whose overthrow is part of Israel’s moral memory. This sets up the contrasting deliverance of Lot in verses 7–8, which highlights God’s ability to discern and rescue the righteous even while destroying the wicked. With these examples in place, verse 9 will declare the principle that guides Peter’s whole warning and comfort for the church.
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Jude 1:15
to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their works of ungodliness which they have ungodly wrought, and of all the hard things which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.
- Luke 17:28
Likewise even as it came to pass in the days of Lot; they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded;
- Deuteronomy 29:23
and that the whole land thereof is brimstone, and salt, and a burning, that it is not sown, nor beareth, nor any grass groweth therein, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which Jehovah overthrew in his anger, and in his wrath:
- Isaiah 13:19
And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldeans’ pride, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
- Genesis 19:28
and he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the Plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the land went up as the smoke of a furnace.
- Ezekiel 16:49
Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom: pride, fulness of bread, and prosperous ease was in her and in her daughters; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.
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