2 Timothy 2:17
New International Version
Their teaching will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus,

New Living Translation
This kind of talk spreads like cancer, as in the case of Hymenaeus and Philetus.

English Standard Version
and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus,

Berean Standard Bible
and the talk of such men will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus,

Berean Literal Bible
and their talk will have pasture to grow like gangrene, among whom are Hymenaeus and Philetus,

King James Bible
And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus;

New King James Version
And their message will spread like cancer. Hymenaeus and Philetus are of this sort,

New American Standard Bible
and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus,

NASB 1995
and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus,

NASB 1977
and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus,

Legacy Standard Bible
and their word will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus,

Amplified Bible
and their teaching will spread like gangrene. So it is with Hymenaeus and Philetus,

Christian Standard Bible
and their teaching will spread like gangrene. Hymenaeus and Philetus are among them.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
And their word will spread like gangrene; Hymenaeus and Philetus are among them.

American Standard Version
and their word will eat as doth a gangrene: of whom is Hymen�us and Philetus;

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And their speech will seize many like a consuming cancer, and one of them is Humenayus, and another, Philetus,

Contemporary English Version
That sort of talk is like a sore that won't heal. And Hymenaeus and Philetus have been talking this way

Douay-Rheims Bible
And their speech spreadeth like a canker: of whom are Hymeneus and Philetus:

English Revised Version
and their word will eat as doth a gangrene: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus;

GOD'S WORD® Translation
and what they say will spread like cancer. Hymenaeus and Philetus are like that.

Good News Translation
Such teaching is like an open sore that eats away the flesh. Two men who have taught such things are Hymenaeus and Philetus.

International Standard Version
and what they say will spread everywhere like gangrene. Hymenaeus and Philetus are like that.

Literal Standard Version
and their word will have pasture as a gangrene, of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus,

Majority Standard Bible
and the talk of such men will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus,

New American Bible
and their teaching will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus,

NET Bible
and their message will spread its infection like gangrene. Hymenaeus and Philetus are in this group.

New Revised Standard Version
and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus,

New Heart English Bible
and their word will consume like gangrene, of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus;

Webster's Bible Translation
And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymeneus and Philetus;

Weymouth New Testament
and their teaching will spread like a running sore. Hymenaeus and Philetus are men of that stamp.

World English Bible
and those words will consume like gangrene, of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus:

Young's Literal Translation
and their word as a gangrene will have pasture, of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus,

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Lord's Approved Workman
16But avoid irreverent, empty chatter, which will only lead to more ungodliness, 17and the talk of such men will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, 18who have deviated from the truth. They say that the resurrection has already occurred, and they undermine the faith of some.…

Cross References
Acts 14:2
But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers.

1 Timothy 1:20
Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme.


Treasury of Scripture

And their word will eat as does a canker: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus;

their word.

Nahum 3:15
There shall the fire devour thee; the sword shall cut thee off, it shall eat thee up like the cankerworm: make thyself many as the cankerworm, make thyself many as the locusts.

James 5:3
Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.

canker.

1 Timothy 1:20
Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme.

Jump to Previous
Canker Consume Eat Flesh Hymenaeus Hymenae'us Hymeneus Pasture Poisoned Running Sore Spread Stamp Talk Teaching Way Word Words Wounds
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Canker Consume Eat Flesh Hymenaeus Hymenae'us Hymeneus Pasture Poisoned Running Sore Spread Stamp Talk Teaching Way Word Words Wounds
2 Timothy 2
1. Timothy is exhorted again to constancy and perseverance.
17. Of Hymenaeus and Philetus.
19. The foundation of the Lord is sure.
22. He is taught whereof to beware, and what to follow after.














(17) And their word will eat as doth a canker.--Better rendered, as in the margin of the English translation, as doth a gangrene, the usual rendering of the various English versions. "Cancer," which is adopted also by Luther--krebs--fails to express the terrible and deathly nature of the "word" of these false teachers. The life of the sufferer afflicted with cancer may be prolonged for many years; a few hours, however, is sufficient to put a term to the life of the patient attacked with "gangrene," unless the limb affected be at once cut away. To translate this Greek word here by "cancer" is to water down the original, in which St. Paul expresses his dread of the fatal influence of the words of these teachers on the lives of many of the flock of Christ. Perhaps Jerome's words, "a perverse doctrine, beginning with one, at the commencement scarcely finds two or three listeners; but little by little the cancer creeps through the body" (Jerome. in Epist. ad Gal.), has suggested the rendering of the English Version.

Of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus.--Of these false teachers nothing is known beyond the mention, in the First Epistle to Timothy, of Hymenaeus, who, regardless of the severe action which had been taken against him (1Timothy 1:20), was apparently still continuing in his error. Vitringa thinks they were Jews, and probably Samaritans. Their names are simply given as examples of the teachers of error to whom St. Paul was referring--famous leaders, no doubt, in their cheerless school of doctrine.

Verse 17. - Gangrene for canker, A.V. Their word; as opposed to "the Word of truth" in ver. 15. Will eat (νομὴν ἕξει); i.e. spread, like a gangrene, which gradually enlarges its area, corrupting the flesh that was sound before. So these heretical opinions spread in the body of the Church which is affected by them. Νομή is literally "pasture" (John 10:9), "grazing of flocks," and hence is applied to fire (Polybius), which as it were feeds upon all around it, and, in medical language (Hippocrates), to sores and gangrenes, which grow larger and depasture the flesh. Of whom; of the number of those pointed at in the phrase, "their word." Hymenaeus; probably the same person as is mentioned as a blasphemer in 1 Timothy 1:20. Philetus. Nothing is known of him.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Greek
and
καὶ (kai)
Conjunction
Strong's 2532: And, even, also, namely.

the
(ho)
Article - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

talk
λόγος (logos)
Noun - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 3056: From lego; something said; by implication, a topic, also reasoning or motive; by extension, a computation; specially, the Divine Expression.

of [such men]
αὐτῶν (autōn)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Genitive Masculine 3rd Person Plural
Strong's 846: He, she, it, they, them, same. From the particle au; the reflexive pronoun self, used of the third person, and of the other persons.

will
ἕξει (hexei)
Verb - Future Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 2192: To have, hold, possess. Including an alternate form scheo skheh'-o; a primary verb; to hold.

spread
νομὴν (nomēn)
Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular
Strong's 3542: (a) pasture, pasturage, (b) met: growth, increase. Feminine from the same as nomos; pasture, i.e. feeding, or pasturage.

like
ὡς (hōs)
Adverb
Strong's 5613: Probably adverb of comparative from hos; which how, i.e. In that manner.

gangrene.
γάγγραινα (gangraina)
Noun - Nominative Feminine Singular
Strong's 1044: Gangrene, mortification. From graino; an ulcer.

Among [them]
ὧν (hōn)
Personal / Relative Pronoun - Genitive Masculine Plural
Strong's 3739: Who, which, what, that.

are
ἐστιν (estin)
Verb - Present Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 1510: I am, exist. The first person singular present indicative; a prolonged form of a primary and defective verb; I exist.

Hymenaeus
Ὑμέναιος (Hymenaios)
Noun - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 5211: Hymenaeus. From Humen; 'hymeneal'; Hymeneus, an opponent of Christianity.

and
καὶ (kai)
Conjunction
Strong's 2532: And, even, also, namely.

Philetus,
Φιλητός (Philētos)
Noun - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 5372: Philetus, a Christian at Rome. From phileo; amiable; Philetus, an opposer of Christianity.


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NT Letters: 2 Timothy 2:17 And their word will consume like gangrene (2 Tim. 2Ti iiTi ii Tim)
2 Timothy 2:16
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