2 Peter 2:17

“These are wells without water, etc.] Which look large and deep, promise much, and have nothing in them; so these men looked like angels of light, transformed themselves as ministers of righteousness, had a form of godliness, and boasted of their great knowledge; promised great advantages to their followers, but were like deceitful brooks, or dry wells, and so disappointed those that came to them, and attended on them; having nothing but the filth and slime of error and iniquity, being destitute both of the grace of God, comparable to water, and of the truth of heavenly doctrine, which is like the rain that fills the wells, pools, and fountains. Clouds that are carried with a tempest; these…”

“(Jde 1:12-13.) wells--"clouds" in Jude; both promising (compare Pe2 2:19) water, but yielding none; so their "great swelling words" are found on trial to be but "vanity" (Pe2 2:18). clouds--The oldest manuscripts and versions read, "mists," dark, and not transparent and bright as "clouds" often are, whence the latter term is applied sometimes to the saints; fit emblem of the children of darkness. "Clouds" is a transcriber's correction from Jde 1:12, where it is appropriate, "clouds . . . without water" (promising what they do not perform); but not here, "mists driven along by a tempest." mist--blackness; "the chilling horror accompanying darkness" [BENGEL].”

“These are wells without water - Jude 1:12-13 employs several other epithets to describe the same class of persons. The language employed both by Peter and Jude is singularly terse, pointed, and emphatic. Nothing to an oriental mind would be more expressive than to say of professed religious teachers, that they were “wells without water.” It was always a sad disappointment to a traveler in the hot sands of the desert to come to a well where it was expected that water might be found, and to find it dry. It only aggravated the trials of the thirsty and weary traveler. Such were these religious teachers. In a world, not unaptly compared, in regard to its real comforts, to the wastes and sands of…”

“Fountains and clouds promise water: so do these promise, but do not perform. 2 Peter 2:18”

“2:17-22 Peter continues his description of the false teachers by explaining their effect on other people.”

“are wells: Job 6:14-17; Jer 14:3; Hos 6:4; Jde 1:12, Jde 1:13 clouds: Eph 4:14 mist: "The blackness, ζοφος \[Strong's G2217\], of darkness," darkness itself, says Leigh. darkness: Pe2 2:4; Mat 8:12, Mat 22:13, Mat 25:30; Jde 1:6, Jde 1:13 2 Peter 2:18”