2 Peter 2:15

15 They have wandered off the right road and followed the footsteps of Balaam son of Beor, who loved to earn money by doing wrong.

2 Peter 2:15 Meaning and Commentary

2 Peter 2:15

Which have forsaken the right way
The right way of the Lord, the way of truth, the Gospel of truth; or Christ, who is the way, the truth, and the life; the true way to eternal life, and which is the right way to eternal happiness; the way of life, righteousness, and salvation by Christ, the Christian faith, and the doctrine of it, which they once professed, but now relinquished:

and are gone astray;
from the right way, the way of truth and holiness, into the paths of error and profaneness:

following the way of Balaam [the son] of Bosor;
which Jude calls his error, ( Jude 1:11 ) , and is the path of covetousness, uncleanness, and idolatry, sins which he was either guilty of himself, or taught, advised, and seduced others to; see ( Revelation 2:14 ) . The Vulgate Latin version reads "Balaam [out of] Bosor", taking "Bosor" for the name of a place, of which "Balaam" was; but not "Bosor", but "Pethor", was the place of Balaam's residence, ( Numbers 22:5 ) . The Arabic and Ethiopic versions supply, as we do, "the son of Bosor"; and the Syriac version reads, "the son of Beor", as in ( Numbers 22:5 ) ; for Beor and "Bosor" are the same names; the "sheva" being pronounced by "o", as it is by "oa" in "Boanerges", and the "ain" by "s". Moreover, the letters (u) and (e) are sometimes used for one another, as in (Nau) and (Nae) , (Ura) and (era) , and so (e) and (v) , especially in the Chaldean dialect; and Peter now being at Babylon in Chaldea, see ( 1 Peter 5:13 ) ; it is no wonder that he so pronounced.

Who loved the wages of unrighteousness:
which were the rewards of divination, ( Numbers 22:7 ) ; which were brought him for his divining or soothsaying, and may well be called unrighteous wages, since it was for doing unrighteous things, or things in an unrighteous manner; and these he loved, desired, and greedily coveted, and fain would he have taken Balak's gold and silver, and have cursed Israel, but was restrained by the Lord: he showed a good will to it, in going along with the messengers, and in building altars, and offering sacrifice in one place after another, in which there was a great resemblance between him and the men here spoken of.

2 Peter 2:15 In-Context

13 Their destruction is their reward for the harm they have done. They love to indulge in evil pleasures in broad daylight. They are a disgrace and a stain among you. They delight in deception even as they eat with you in your fellowship meals.

14 They commit adultery with their eyes, and their desire for sin is never satisfied. They lure unstable people into sin, and they are well trained in greed. They live under God’s curse.

15 They have wandered off the right road and followed the footsteps of Balaam son of Beor, who loved to earn money by doing wrong.

16 But Balaam was stopped from his mad course when his donkey rebuked him with a human voice.

17 These people are as useless as dried-up springs or as mist blown away by the wind. They are doomed to blackest darkness.

Footnotes

• [a]. Some manuscripts read Bosor.