05_Biblica_1_H_Collins_Layout 1 05/11/12 12:19 Pagina 421 421 NOAH, DEUCALION, AND THE NEW TESTAMENT though exploring that question is well outside the scope of this essay, perhaps the results here will contribute to future discussions. Second Peter refers to the great flood in two places, namely in 2,5 and 3,5-6. The context of 2,4-6 indicates that the events in Gen- esis are the background for the account. The author moves from mention of the “angels when they sinned”, probably meaning the “sons of God” (Gen 6,1-4), to the great flood (Gen. 6-9), to Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen 19,23-29) 37. At the same time, there are indi- cations that other ways of telling the stories may also be involved: 2 Peter 2,4 says that when the angels sinned God “cast them into hell [Tartarus]” ( ), an element not found in Genesis 38. In 2 Peter 2,5 we find that God brought the flood upon the world of the ungodly ( ”, using a term not found in the LXX of the flood story 39. Calling Noah a “herald of righteousness” ( ) brings to mind the way in which Sibylline Oracles 1:129 has God instructing Noah to “proclaim or herald repentance” ( ); the perceived connection becomes stronger in view of the mention of “repentance” in 2 Peter 3,9. Finally, in 2 Peter 2,6 God “turned to ashes” ( ) Sodom and Gomorrah, a detail also lacking from the LXX. The differences in vv. 5 and 6 might be explained by the author’s paraphrase, but the reference to Tartarus in v. 4, together with the explicit “angels”, invite us to con- nect this with a tradition of reading. This juxtaposition reminds us of the pattern that 3 Macc 2,4-5 displays. 37 Perhaps this echoes Sib. Or., 1:100, where members of the “second 38 race” who went wrong “went under the dread house of Tartarus” ( ); cf. further 1:119 (members of the fourth race). But the passage also reminds us of the story of how the Olympian gods pun- ished the Titans in Tartarus (cf. Hesiod, Theogony, 715-40); see J. NEYREY, 2 Peter, Jude (AB; New York 1993) 202; C. SPICQ, Les Épîtres de Saint Pierre (SB; Paris 1966) 231. For Jewish awareness of this story, see Josephus, Against Apion, 2, 240 [2.34]. See the sensible caution of D.A. CARSON, “2 Peter”, Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament (eds. G.K. BEALE ‒ D.A. CARSON) (Grand Rapids, MI 2007) 1047-1061, at 1050b: “This may be nothing more than the vocabulary choice of someone influenced by Hellenistic Judaism; it is hard to be sure, for already the word is used in the LXX”. Nevertheless the point stands, that the LXX of Genesis is not the sole source for wording here. The first occurrence of is in Gen 18,23, to render 39 Hebrew (which is also the first occurrence of that Hebrew word).