2:11a

greater in strength and power: These two expressions mean almost the same thing, so they are probably a pair of words that Peter used together in this sentence in order to emphasize how powerful the angels that he is talking about are. Then this expression means, “have much greater power.”

In the Greek it is not clear whom Peter was saying the angels were stronger than, but in many languages it will be necessary to state this. Many scholars think that Peter meant to say that the angels were stronger than the false teachers. Others think he meant that the angels were stronger than the celestial beings. If your language requires that you say whom the angels are stronger than, we recommend that you say that they are stronger than the false teachers. For example:

so much stronger and mightier than these false teachers (Good News Translation)

2:11b

dare to bring such slanderous charges against them: Peter said that the angels do not bring slanderous accusations against them. Here is another way to translate this:

do not pronounce a reviling judgement upon them. (Good News Translation)

It is not clear to whom Peter was referring when he used the word them.

(1) In some translations, them refers to the heavenly beings of verse 10c. If this is the correct interpretation, then the meaning is that the false teachers insult the heavenly beings, but the angels, who are even more powerful, do not.

(Berean Standard Bible, New International Version (2011 Revision), New English Bible, The Jerusalem Bible)

(2) In the Good News Translation, them refers to the false teachers. If this is the correct interpretation, then Peter was contrasting the false teachers, who insult the heavenly beings, with the angels. Even when the angels are telling God about the wrong things the false teachers have done, they do not use insulting language to do so.

It is recommended that you follow the first interpretation (1).

Lord: This is referring to God, not Christ, in this verse. See note on 2:9a.

© 2000 by SIL International®

Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0

All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible. BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.