The first part of this verse is still a part of the sentence that began in verse 12, and explains why the suffering of these false teachers is justified: they suffer as a result of their wrongdoings. In the last part their evil acts have an adverse effect not only on themselves but also and primarily on others.

There is a play on words here on suffering wrong and wrongdoing (Greek adikoumenoi and adikias; the whole expression translated literally is “being treated wrongly as a reward for doing wrong”). Some translations have tried to retain this play on words; for example, Barclay “Injury they inflicted, and injury they will receive in return,” and New English Bible “suffering hurt for the hurt they have inflicted.” Another way to restructure this clause is as follows: “As they have hurt other people, so they also will suffer hurt.” It may not be possible, of course, to retain or even to compensate for these wordplays in another language. But it is still good to be aware of this rhetorical feature in order to do justice to it whenever possible.

In verses 13b-15 Peter further describes the wickedness of the false teachers. Of special interest to translators is the fact that this subsection consists of only one sentence, a form that is difficult and sometimes impossible to retain in translation. Furthermore it consists of a series of participial clauses, with the only finite verb occurring in verse 15 (“have gone astray”). Normally participial clauses are dependent on a finite verb, but here every participial clause seems to stand alone and is complete in itself. This helps in splitting the long sentence into shorter sentences, since every participial clause can be translated easily as one complete sentence.

It is also possible to start a new paragraph here, since there is a natural break at the end of verse 13a. However, if these verses are understood as describing “wrongdoing” in 13a, then a new paragraph is not necessary.

The word for count is literally “consider,” “regard,” “think.” Many translations omit this by restructuring the verse, as in Good News Translation “Pleasure for them is…,” and in New English Bible “To carouse … is their idea of pleasure.” We can also say “They get their pleasure from” or “They gain pleasure from.” Pleasure can also be “enjoyment,” but the term is used only in a negative sense in the New Testament. To revel translates a Greek noun that primarily means “luxury,” but in the present context it means excessive self-indulgence in eating and perhaps in sexual activity. The purpose of such activity is of course their own self-satisfaction. In certain languages “reveling” can be expressed with words for particular activities, sometimes idiomatically; for example, “partying-licentiously-uproariously” (Thai). In the daytime is literally “in the day,” but this is contrasted with night, hence Good News Translation “in broad daylight.” We may also say “while the sun is shining.” If excessive partying is done at all, it is usually during the night. This does not mean that self-indulgence at night time is acceptable, but that the dark of night helps people keep shameful deeds from the view of others. In this case the very fact that these people can engage in this activity in broad daylight shows how wicked and immoral they really are.

These people are further described as blots and blemishes. Blots translates a word that is very similar to a word used by Jude (verse 12), one which can mean “reefs” or “half-submerged rocks.” (In Greek, spilas is “blot,” while spilos is “reef.”) A blot or a spot dirties and spoils a clean garment. Blemishes, on the other hand, translates a word that means “defects,” understood physically or morally, hence “disgrace” (Good News Translation), “causing shame.” Blots and blemishes may also be rendered as “they are like dirty spots and blemishes (or, physical defects) and cause you shame and disgrace” or “they are like … causing you to lose face greatly.” It is interesting to note that later Peter admonishes the Christians to be “without spot or blemish,” using the negative forms of the above words (3.14). So the idea here may be that these false teachers, by being “spots and blemishes” within the church, are preventing the church from being what it should be.

As the Revised Standard Version footnote shows, there is a textual problem here: some manuscripts have “love feasts” (which appears in Jude 12) rather than dissipation. The two words look very similar in Greek (agapai for “love feasts” and apatai for dissipation.) Since “love feasts” is used in Jude, and since scholarly consensus holds that 2 Peter used Jude as a primary source, it can be concluded that the original text of 2 Peter probably had dissipation deliberately rather than “love feasts.” A further question is why Peter changed Jude here, and what dissipation in fact means. Dissipation translates a word that can mean “pleasure” but in this context should most probably be taken with the more usual meaning “deceit” or “deception.” Some scholars suggest that Peter was still referring to “love feasts” here but made a deliberate change of the Greek word to stress the fact that the love feasts have become “deceptions” because of the behavior of the false teachers. It is more likely, however, that Peter is actually referring to the behavior of these false teachers and their attitude during the common meals of the Christian community. In this case there are two possible ways of interpreting Peter’s intention. First, the false teachers took advantage of their erroneous ideas to justify their actions during the common meals, thus using these meals as occasions for self-indulgence and not for real fellowship. Secondly, while they join the Christian community in their common meals, they nevertheless continue in their erroneous ways, thus deceiving the church. This seems to be the position reflected in Good News Translation and some other translations (for instance, New English Bible “while they sit with you at table they are an ugly blot on your company, because they revel in their own deceptions”).

Carousing translates a Greek word that simply means “eat with someone,” without any negative sense (Good News Translation “as they join you in your meals”). This seems to provide the context of all of verse 13b. This means that it is when Christians get together for a common meal that the false teachers indulge in their debauchery and deceptions. Whether these meals are religious meals or simply social meals is not made clear in the text, although the parallel passage in Jude 12 makes it clear that what is meant are the “love feasts,” that is, common meals that included the celebration of the Lord’s Supper or holy communion. It is not necessary, however, to bring this into the present passage, since the meaning is the same, whether the meals are religious or social in nature.

An alternative translation model for the second part of this verse is:
• Because they enjoy their deceitful ways, they get their pleasure from eating and drinking in an immoral fashion in broad daylight (or, while the sun is shining); they are like spots and blemishes that cause you to lose face greatly every time they eat food with you.

Quoted with permission from Arichea, Daniel C. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The Second Letter from Peter. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1980. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .