Editing Tartarus (section)

== New Testament ==
{{see also|Hell in Christianity|Christian views on Hades}}
In the [[New Testament]], the noun ''Tartarus'' does not occur but ''tartaroō'' (''ταρταρόω'', "throw to Tartarus"), a shortened form of the classical Greek verb ''kata-tartaroō'' ("throw down to Tartarus"), does appear in [[2 Peter]] 2:4. [[Liddell–Scott]] provides other sources for the shortened form of this verb, including [[Acusilaus]] (5th century BC), [[Joannes Laurentius Lydus]] (4th century AD) and the [[Scholiast]] on [[Aeschylus]]' ''[[Oresteia#The Eumenides|Eumenides]]'', who cites [[Pindar]] relating how the earth tried to ''tartaro'' "cast down" [[Apollo]] after he overcame the Python.<ref>A. cast into Tartarus or hell, Acus.8 J., 2 Ep.Pet.2.4, Lyd.Mens.4.158 (Pass.), Sch.T Il.14.296. Henry George Liddell. Robert Scott. A Greek-English Lexicon. revised and augmented throughout by. Sir Henry Stuart Jones. with the assistance of. Roderick McKenzie. Oxford. Clarendon Press. 1940.</ref> In classical texts, the longer form ''kata-tartaroo'' is often related to the throwing of the [[Titan (mythology)|Titans]] down to Tartarus.<ref>[[Apollodorus of Athens]], in Didymus' Scholia on Homer; [[Plutarch]] ''Concerning rivers''</ref>

The [[English Standard Version]] is one of several English versions that gives the Greek reading Tartarus as a footnote:
{{blockquote|For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell(a) and committed them to chains(b) of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment;|{{bibleverse|2 Peter|2:4|ESV}} (Footnote a: Greek ''Tartarus'')}}

[[Adam Clarke]] reasoned that Peter's use of language relating to the Titans was an indication that the ancient Greeks had heard of a Biblical punishment of [[fallen angel]]s.<ref>Clarke Commentary "The ancient Greeks appear to have received, by tradition, an account of the punishment of the 'fallen angels,' and of bad men after death; and their poets did, in conformity I presume with that account, make Tartarus the place where the giants who rebelled against Jupiter, and the souls of the wicked, were confined. 'Here,' saith Hesiod, Theogon., lin. 720, 1, 'the rebellious Titans were bound in penal chains.{{'"}}</ref> Some Evangelical Christian commentaries distinguish Tartarus as a place for wicked angels and [[Gehenna]] as a place for wicked humans on the basis of this verse.<ref>Paul V. Harrison, Robert E. Picirilli James, 1, 2 Peter, Jude Randall House Commentaries 1992 p267 "We do not need to say, then, that Peter was reflecting or approving the Book of Enoch (20:2) when it names Tartarus as a place for wicked angels in distinction from Gehenna as the place for wicked humans."</ref> Other Evangelical commentaries, in reconciling that some fallen angels are chained in Tartarus, yet some not, attempt to distinguish between one type of fallen angel and another.<ref>Vince Garcia ''The Resurrection Life Study Bible'' 2007 p412 "If so, we have a problem: Satan and his angels are not locked up in Tartarus! Satan and his angels were alive and active in the time of Christ, and still are today! Yet Peter specifically (2 Peter 2:4) states that at least one group of angelic beings have literally been cast down to Tartarus and bound in chains until the Last Judgment. So if Satan and his angels are not currently bound in Tartarus—who is? The answer goes back~again~to the angels who interbred with humans. So then— is it impossible that Azazel is somehow another name for Satan? There may be a chance he is, but there is no way of knowing for sure. ..."</ref>