2 Peter 2:9

the godly … the unjust Both adjectives are in the Greek without the article.

out of temptations The word includes the trialof conflict with evil, as well as its alluring side. See note on 1 Peter 1:6.

to be punished Literally, under punishment. The participle is in the present tense, and has no future or gerundial force. The ungodly are represented as being already under a penal process of some kind. If we take the Greek word for "punished" in the sense in which it was received by the Greek ethical writers (Aristotle, Rhet. i. 10), who distinguish between kolasis, as punishment inflicted for the good of the sufferer, and timôriaas inflicted for the satisfaction of justice, the word chosen by St Peter at least admits the idea of the punishment being corrective. In the only other passage in which the word occurs (Acts 4:21) the verb implies a penalty inflicted in order to bring about a desired result. Looking to the fact that the words obviously refer to the case of Noah as well as that of Lot, we may find in them a point of contact with 1 Peter 3:19; 1 Peter 4:6. Those who are here said to be under punishment are the same as the "spirits in prison," who were "judged" in order that they might "live."