Greeting

1 Jude, a bond-servant of Jesus Christ and the brother of James, to those who have been called, dearly loved by¹ God the Father, and preserved for² Jesus Christ: ² May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.

A Call to Contend for the Faith

³ Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write you an appeal, urging you to contend for the faith once and for all delivered to the saints. ⁴ For certain men have crept in unnoticed, men who long ago were marked out for this condemnation,³ ungodly men who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness, and who deny our only Sovereign and Lord, Jesus Christ.

Reminders from Old Testament Times

⁵ Now I want to remind you (though you already are fully aware of these things)⁴ that the Lord,⁵ after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, later on destroyed those who did not believe. ⁶ Moreover, angels who failed to keep to their own domain,⁶ but left their proper dwelling place, he has reserved under darkness in everlasting chains for the judgment of the Great Day, ⁷ just as Sodom and Gomorrah (as well as the cities around them, which sinned in the same way as these) gave themselves over to sexual immorality and went after strange flesh, and so were set forth as an example by suffering the punishment of an everlasting fire.

Marks of False Teachers

⁸ In the same way, these dreamers also defile the flesh, reject authority, and revile satanic rulers.^7 9 Yet when Michael the archangel contended with the devil and disputed with him over the body of Moses, he did not dare to bring a reviling⁸ judgment against him, but simply said, “The Lord rebuke you!” ¹⁰ But these men speak evil of⁹ whatever they don’t understand;¹⁰ and like unreasoning animals, whatever they do know by nature, by those very things they are brought to ruin. ¹¹ Woe to them, for they have traveled the way of Cain, rushed headlong for profit into the error of Balaam, and perished in the rebellion of Korah!

¹² These men are hidden reefs¹¹ in your love feasts, eating among you without fear, shepherds who only feed themselves.¹² They are clouds without water, carried along by the winds; late autumn trees with no fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots; ¹³ raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.

¹⁴ Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, also prophesied about these men, saying, “Behold, the Lord is coming with his holy ten thousands, ¹⁵ to execute judgment on all, and to convict all the ungodly of all the ungodly deeds they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”¹³

¹⁶ These are grumblers and faultfinders, walking according to their own lusts, mouthing high-sounding words,¹⁴ flattering people in order to gain an advantage. ¹⁷ But you, beloved, remember the words spoken to you beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁸ how they told you that in the last time mockers would arrive on the scene,¹⁵ walking according to their own ungodly lusts. ¹⁹ These are the ones who cause divisions, mere natural¹⁶ men, devoid of¹⁷ the Spirit.

A Call to Persevere in the Faith

²⁰ But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, and praying in the Holy Spirit, ²¹ keep yourselves in the love of God, eagerly waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that will bring you to eternal life.^{18 22} And have mercy on those who doubt. ²³ Save others, snatching them out of the fire. On others still, have mercy with fear, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.

Concluding Doxology

²⁴ Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to stand you faultless¹⁹ before the presence of his glory with surpassing joy,^{20 25} to the only God—our Savior—through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time, now, and through²¹ all the ages to come. Amen.

Notes

1. Or in
2. Or by
3. Some interpreters: whose condemnation was written about long ago
4. Lit. though you have come to know all things once and for all
5. Some early mss Jesus
6. Or positions of authority
7. Lit. glories
8. Or blasphemous, slanderous
9. Or rail against, blaspheme
10. Or know
11. The Greek is similar to stains, blemishes
12. Lit. shepherding (feeding) themselves
13. See 1 Enoch 1:9
14. Lit. and their mouths speak swollen things
    
15. Lit. will be present
16. Lit. unspiritual, physical
17. Lit. not having
18. Lit. Jesus Christ unto eternal life
19. Or blameless; lit. without blemish
20. Or in exultation
21. Lit. unto