2 Peter 3:5

λανθάνει γὰρ αὐτοὺς τοῦτο. “This escapes their notice.” τοῦτο is nominative. θέλοντας “wilfully” “of their own purpose”. ἔκπαλαι (cf. note, 2 Peter 2:3): “originally,” i.e. before the creation of the world. The Rabbinical school of Shammai held that Genesis 1:1, ἐν ἀρχῇ ἐποίησεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν meant that the heaven was in existence before the six days' work, i.e. ἔκπαλαι. Perhaps this notion is present here. ἐξ ὕδατος καὶ διʼ ὕδατος. Two kinds of water are meant. The first may refer to the primeval watery chaos ” the face of the waters” (Genesis 1:2). The second is perhaps connected with the formation of the dry land by “the gathering together of the waters into one place” (Genesis 1:9). But the meaning is obscure (cf. Mayor, ed. lxxxiii.; Chase, op. cit. 797). συνεστῶσα = “was formed”. Cf. Philo, i. p. 330. ἐκ γῆς καὶ ὕδατος καὶ ἀέρος καὶ πυρὸς συνέστη ὅδε ὁ κόσμος.

The above interpretation is in substantial agreement with Alford's, who distinguishes “the waters above the firmament,” and “the fountains of the great deep”. The Hebrew had no notion of evaporation. The rivers run into the sea, and the water returns subterraneously to their sources again (Ecclesiastes 1:7).