The Letter of
JUDE
Chapter: 1The Letter of
JUDE
1•1Jude, a slave of Jesus Christ and brother of James,
To those who are called, who have been loved1 in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ:
•2May mercy and peace and love be multiplied to †you.
•3Beloved, although I was giving all diligence to be writing †you about our common salvation, I felt a necessity to write to †you exhorting [†you] to keep contending for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. •4For certain men have sneaked in who long ago had been previously written about for this condemnation, irreverent [persons] who change the grace of our God into unrestrained sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.2
•5Now I want to remind †you, although †you know all [this], that the Lord3 who once saved4 a people out of the land of Egypt, afterwards5 destroyed those who did not believe. •6And the angels that did not keep their rulership but left their own dwelling, he has kept in everlasting imprisonment under gloom until the judgment of the great day; •7[just] as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, which in the same way as these indulged in sexual immorality and went after other kinds of flesh, are exhibited as an example by undergoing a penalty of eternal fire.
•8Yet likewise these [people] also in [their] dreamings pollute the flesh and reject lordship and slander the glorious ones. •9But when Michael the archangel, quarreling with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not dare bring a slanderous judgment [against him], but said, "The Lord rebuke you." •10But these [people] slander whatever they do not understand, and whatever they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, by these things they perish. •11Woe to them, because they have walked in the way of Cain, and abandoned [themselves] to the error of
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Balaam for wages, and been destroyed in the rebellion of Korah! •12These are stains6 in †your love feasts, as they feast with [†you] without fear, shepherding [only] themselves; waterless clouds, carried along by winds; unfruitful trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted; •13wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shameful deeds; wandering stars for whom the gloom of darkness has been reserved forever.
•14And Enoch also, [in] the seventh [generation] from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, "Behold, the Lord came with ten thousands of his saints,7 •15to execute judgment on all, and to convict every person8 of all their works of irreverence which they have done in an irreverent way, and of all the harsh things which irreverent sinners have spoken against him."9 •16These are grumblers, faultfinders, walking in accordance with their [own] desires,10 and their mouth speaks swollen [words], flattering people11 for the sake of advantage.
•17But †you, beloved, must remember the words previously spoken by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; •18that they kept saying to †you, "In the last time there will be mockers, walking in accordance with irreverent desires." •19These are the ones who cause [church] splits, [who show an] animal [nature],12 not having the Spirit. •20But †you, beloved, build †yourselves up in †your most holy faith; pray in the Holy Spirit; •21keep †yourselves in the love of God, as †you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ [leading] to eternal life. •22And on some have mercy,13 who doubt; •23and some14 save, by snatching [them] out of the fire; and on some have mercy15 with fear, hating even the tunic spotted by the flesh.
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•24Now to the One who is able to keep †you from tripping and to present [†you] without blemish before the presence of his glory with great joy, •25to the only God, our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord,16 [be] glory, majesty, might, and authority, before all ages17 and now and for all ages. Amen.
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