2 Peter 2:8

8 (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)—

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 if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction, reducing them to ashes as an example of what is coming on the ungodly;

7 and if He rescued Lot, a righteous man distressed by the depraved conduct of the lawless

8 (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)—

9 if all this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment.

10 Such punishment is specially reserved for those who indulge the corrupt desires of the flesh and despise authority. Bold and self-willed, they are unafraid to slander glorious beings.