2 Peter 2:8

8 (For their lawless deeds were torture, day after day, to the pure soul of that righteous man--all that he saw and heard whilst living in their midst.)

2 Peter 2:8 Meaning and Commentary

2 Peter 2:8

For that righteous man dwelling among them
Which is sometimes the lot of good men, to their great sorrow and grief, ( Psalms 120:5-7 ) ( Isaiah 6:5 ) . Upon mentioning those words in ( Genesis 13:12 Genesis 13:13 ) "and pitched his tent towards Sodom", but the men of Sodom were wicked, &c. says R. Eleazar ^F9;

``he is a righteous man that dwells between two wicked men, and does not learn their works;''

and such an one was Lot, whatever they are elsewhere pleased to say of him: "in seeing and hearing"; the Vulgate Latin version reads this in connection with the word "righteous", thus, "in seeing and hearing he was righteous": he could not bear to see their filthy actions, and hear their obscene language, but turned away from them, and shut his eyes, and stopped his ears, by which he appears to be a righteous and good man; though rather this belongs to what follows, seeing their wicked practices, and hearing their filthy talk:

vexed his righteous soul from, day today with their unlawful deeds;
either "they vexed" him, as the Vulgate Latin and Ethiopic versions read; or rather "he vexed" himself; he fretted and teased himself, and became exceeding uneasy, and was put upon a rack and tortured, as the word signifies, continually, with their wicked actions; see ( Psalms 119:158 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F9 T. Bab. Yoma, fol. 38. 2.

2 Peter 2:8 In-Context

6 He reduced to ashes the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, and condemned them to overthrow, making them an example to people who might in future be living godless lives.

7 But when righteous Lot was sore distressed by the gross misconduct of immoral men He rescued him.

8 (For their lawless deeds were torture, day after day, to the pure soul of that righteous man--all that he saw and heard whilst living in their midst.)

9 Since all this is so, the Lord knows how to rescue godly men from temptation, and on the other hand how to keep the unrighteous under punishment in readiness for the Day of Judgement,

10 and especially those who are abandoned to sensuality--craving, as they do, for polluted things, and scorning control. Fool-hardy and self-willed, they do not tremble when speaking evil of glorious beings;