2 Timothy 2:16

κενοφωνίας : See on 1 Timothy 6:20. Here, as Bengel suggests, κενο - is contrasted with ἀληθείας, φωνίας with λόγον.

περιίστασο : shun, devita, “ Give them a wide berth ” (Plummer), also in Titus 3:9. In these places περιίστασθαι has the same meaning as ἐκτρέπεσθαι, 1 Timothy 6:20. In fact Ell. cites from Lucian, Hermot. § 86, ἐκτραπήσομαι καὶ περιστήσομαι, where the two verbs are evidently used as indifferent alternatives. Where περιίστημι elsewhere occurs (N.T.), viz., John 11:42; Acts 25:7, it means “to stand around”.

ἐπὶ πλεῖον, κ. τ. λ.: Those who utter “babblings” (subject of προκόψουσιν) are not, as is sometimes supposed, merely negatively useless; they are positively and increasingly mischievous. In 2 Timothy 3:9, οὐ προκόψουσιν ἐπὶ πλεῖον, the situation is different. When a man's ἄνοια has become manifest to all, he has lost his power to do mischief to others; on the other hand there is no limit to the deterioration of “evil men and impostors” in themselves, προκόψουσιν ἐπὶ τὸ χεῖρον (2 Timothy 3:13).

ἀσεβείας : genitive after ἐπὶ πλεῖον. The commentators compare Joseph. Bell. Jud. vi. 2, 3. προὔκοψαν εἰς τοσοῦτον παρανομίας. Charles thinks προκόψουσιν ἐπὶ κακῷ ἐν πλεονεξίᾳ, Test. of Twelve Patriarchs, Judah, 21:8, the source of this phrase; but it is merely a parallel.