through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you Better, in or with covetousness. The adjective for "feigned" is not found elsewhere in the New Testament. This greed of gain, found in strange union with high-flown claims to a higher knowledge and holiness than that of others, seems to have been one of the chief features of the heresies of the Apostolic age. Comp. 1 Timothy 6:5; Titus 1:11. If they made proselytes it was only that they might get profit out of them.

whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not Better, for whom judgment for a long time idleth not.

damnation Better, destruction, as keeping up the continuity of thought with the preceding verses. The thought involves a half-personification of the two nouns. "Judgment" does not loiter on its way; "destruction" does not nod drowsily, like the foolish virgins of Matthew 25:5. Both are eager, watchful, waiting for the appointed hour.

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