Jude 1

Greeting to the Called

1 Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, To those who are called, sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ:2 Mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.

Contend for the Faith

3 Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.4 For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.

Old and New Apostates

5 But I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.6 And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day;7 as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.8 Likewise also these dreamers defile the flesh, reject authority, and speak evil of dignitaries.9 Yet Michael the archangel, in contending with the devil, when he disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a reviling accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke you!10 But these speak evil of whatever they do not know; and whatever they know naturally, like brute beasts, in these things they corrupt themselves.11 Woe to them! For they have gone in the way of Cain, have run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.

Apostates Depraved and Doomed

12 These are spots in your love feasts, while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried about by the winds; late autumn trees without 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, prophesied about these men also, saying, Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints,15 to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.

Apostates Predicted

16 These are grumblers, complainers, walking according to their own lusts; and they mouth great swelling words, flattering people to gain advantage.17 But you, beloved, remember the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ:18 how they told you that there would be mockers in the last time who would walk according to their own ungodly lusts.19 These are sensual persons, who cause divisions, not having the Spirit.

Maintain Your Life with God

20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,21 keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.22 And on some have compassion, making a distinction;23 but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.

Glory to God

24 Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, And to present you faultless Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,25 To God our Savior, Who alone is wise, Be glory and majesty, Dominion and power, Both now and forever. Amen.

JUDE 1

1  t From Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and the brother of James.
To all who are chosen and loved by God the Father and are kept safe by Jesus Christ.

2 I pray that God will greatly bless you with mercy, peace, and love!

False Teachers

4 Some godless people have sneaked in among us and are saying, “God treats us much better than we deserve, and so it is all right to be immoral.” They even deny we must obey Jesus Christ as our only Master and Lord. But long ago the Scriptures warned that these godless people were doomed.
5  t Don't forget what happened to those people the Lord rescued from Egypt. Some of them did not have faith, and he later destroyed them. 6 You also know about the angelst who didn't do their work and left their proper places. God chained them with everlasting chains and is now keeping them in dark pits until the great day of judgment.

7 t We should also be warned by what happened to the cities of Sodom and Gomorraht and the nearby towns. Their people became immoral and committed all sorts of sexual sins. Then God made an example of them and punished them with eternal fire.
8 The people I am talking about are behaving just like those dreamers who destroyed their own bodies. They reject all authority and insult angels.

9 t Even Michael, the chief angel, didn't dare to insult the devil, when the two of them were arguing about the body of Moses.t All Michael said was, “The Lord will punish you!”
10 But these people insult powers they don't know anything about. They are like senseless animals that end up getting destroyed, because they live only by their feelings.

11 t Now they are in for real trouble. They have followed Cain's examplet and have made the same mistake that Balaamt did by caring only for money. They have also rebelled against God, just as Korah did.t Because of all this, they will be destroyed.
12 These people are filthy minded, and by their shameful and selfish actions they spoil the meals you eat together. They are like clouds blown along by the wind, but never bringing any rain. They are like leafless trees, uprooted and dead, and unable to produce fruit.

13 Their shameful deeds show up like foam on wild ocean waves. They are like wandering stars forever doomed to the darkest pits of hell.

14  t Enoch was the seventh person after Adam, and he was talking about these people when he said:
Look! The Lord is coming with thousands and thousands of holy angels

15 to judge everyone. He will punish all those ungodly people for all the evil things they have done. The Lord will surely punish those ungodly sinners for every evil thing they have ever said about him.

16 These people grumble and complain and live by their own selfish desires. They brag about themselves and flatter others to get what they want.

More Warnings

19 And now these people are already making you turn against each other. They think only about this life, and they don't have God's Spirit.
20 Dear friends, keep building on the foundation of your most holy faith, as the Holy Spirit helps you to pray. 21 And keep in step with God's love, as you wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to show how kind he is by giving you eternal life. 22 Be helpful tot all who may have doubts.

23 Rescue any who need to be saved, as you would rescue someone from a fire. Then with fear in your own hearts, have mercy on everyone who needs it. But hate even the clothes of those who have been made dirty by their filthy deeds.

Final Prayer