Jude 1
1 This letter comes from Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ, and James' brother. I am writing to those who are called and loved by God the Father, and who are kept safe by Jesus Christ:
To those who, having received the call, have been loved by God the Father and protected by Jesus Christ, From Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ, and the brother of James.
2 May God's mercy, peace, and love increase in your experience!
May mercy, peace, and love be yours in ever increasing measure.
3 My friends, I was already looking forward to writing to you about the salvation that we share. But now I need to write urgently to you and encourage you to vigorously defend the truth about God, given once and for all time to God's holy people.
Dear friends, while I was making every effort to write to you about our common salvation, I felt that I must write to you at once to encourage you to fight in defense of the faith that has once for all been entrusted to the keeping of Christ’s people.
4 For some people have quietly crept in among you. They were written about and condemned a long time ago, for they are wicked people who pervert God's grace, turning it into a license to immorality, while also denying our Lord and master Jesus Christ.
For there have crept in among you certain godless people, whose sentence has long since been pronounced, and who make the mercy of God an excuse for profligacy, and disown our only lord and master, Jesus Christ.
5 Even though you already know this, I want to remind you that though the Lord saved his people out of the land of Egypt, later he still destroyed those who disbelieved.
Now I want to remind you – but you already know it all – that, though the Lord delivered the people from Egypt, yet he afterward destroyed those who refused to believe in him;
6 Even those angels that were not content with their God-given positions but abandoned their rightful places—he has placed them in eternal chains of darkness until the great Day of Judgment. (aïdios g126)
and that even those angels, who did not keep to their appointed spheres, but left their proper homes, have been kept by him for the judgment of the great day in everlasting chains and black darkness. (aïdios g126)
7 In just the same way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the towns nearby that pursued immorality and perverted sex are provided as an example of those that experience the punishment of eternal fire. (aiōnios g166)
Like Sodom and Gomorrah and the towns near them, which gave themselves up to fornication, and fell into unnatural vice, these angels now stand out as a warning, undergoing, as they are, punishment in eternal fire. (aiōnios g166)
8 Likewise these dreamers pollute their bodies, disregard authority, and insult heavenly beings.
Yet in the same way these people, too, cherishing vain dreams, pollute our human nature, reject control, and malign the celestial beings.
9 Even the archangel Michael, when he was arguing with the devil over Moses' body, didn't dare to condemn him with a slanderous insult, but said, “May the Lord rebuke you.”
Yet even Michael, the archangel, when, in his dispute with the devil, he was arguing about the body of Moses, did not venture to charge him with maligning, but said merely ‘The Lord rebuke you!’
10 But these people ridicule whatever they don't understand; and what they do understand they instinctively follow like unthinking animals—this is what destroys them.
But these people malign whatever they do not understand; while they use such things as they know by instinct (like the animals that have no reason) for their own corruption.
11 They're in terrible trouble! For they have followed Cain's way. Like Balaam and his delusion, they have abandoned themselves to the profit motive. Like Korah and his rebellion, they have destroyed themselves.
Alas for them! They walk in the steps of Cain; led astray by Balaam’s love of gain, they plunge into sin, and meet their ruin through rebellion like Korah.
12 These people spoil your fellowship meals, for they are selfish shepherds that don't have the slightest sense of shame—they only take care of themselves. They're clouds blown along by the wind that bring no rain. They're bare trees without fruit—twice dead, pulled out by the roots.
These are the people who are blots on your ‘love-feasts,’ when they feast together and provide without scruple for themselves alone. They are clouds without rain, driven before the winds; they are leafless trees without a vestige of fruit, dead through and through, torn up by the roots;
13 They're violent ocean waves, foaming in their own disgrace. They're false stars, doomed forever to utter darkness. (aiōn g165)
they are wild sea waves, foaming with their own shame; they are ‘wandering stars,’ for which the blackest darkness has been reserved for ever. (aiōn g165)
14 Enoch, seven generations on from Adam, spoke prophetically about these people: “Look! The Lord is coming, together with thousands and thousands of his holy ones
To these people, as to others, Enoch, the seventh in descent from Adam, declared – ‘See! The Lord has come with his hosts of holy ones around him,
15 to judge everyone, to reveal all the wicked things people have done, and all the terrible things hostile sinners have said against him.”
to execute judgment on all people, and to convict all godless people of all their godless acts, which in their ungodliness they have committed, and of all the harsh words which they have spoken against him, godless sinners that they are!’
16 Such people are grumblers, always complaining. They follow their own evil desires, speaking boastfully about themselves, and flattering others to get what they want.
These people are always murmuring, and complaining of their lot; they follow where their passions lead them; they have arrogant words on their lips; and they flatter others for the sake of what they can get from them.
17 But you, my dear friends, please remember what you were told by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ.
But you should, dear friends, recall what was foretold by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ;
18 They explained to you that in the last times mockers would come, following their own wicked desires.
how they used to say to you – ‘As time draws to an end, there will be scoffers, who will be led by their godless passions.’
19 They cause divisions; they are worldly people who don't have the Spirit.
These are the people – animal and unspiritual – who cause divisions.
20 But you, my friends, are to build yourselves up through your trust in God. Pray in the Holy Spirit,
But you must, dear friends, build up your characters on the foundation of your most holy faith, pray under the guidance of the Holy Spirit,
21 keep yourselves safe in God's love, and wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ who brings eternal life. (aiōnios g166)
and keep within the love of God, while waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, to bring you to eternal life. (aiōnios g166)
22 Show kindness to those who doubt.
To some show pity, because they are in doubt. ‘Drag them out of the fire,’ and save them.
23 Save those you can by snatching them out of the fire. Show mercy—but with great care, hating even the “clothing” that is contaminated by sinful human nature.
To others show pity, but with caution, hating the clothing polluted by their touch.
24 Now to him who can keep you from falling, and who can bring you into his glorious presence without fault, and with great joy,
To him who is able to guard you from falling, and to bring you into his glorious presence, blameless and rejoicing –
25 to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power, and authority, before all time, now, and forever. Amen. (aiōn g165)
to the one God, our Savior, be ascribed, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, glory, majesty, power, and dominion, as it was before time began, is now, and will be for all time to come. Amen. (aiōn g165)
