Jude 1

1 ¹Jude, servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to those called, loved in our Father and kept for Jesus Christ: ²May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.

Contend for the Faith

³Beloved, though eager to write about our shared salvation, I had to write urging you to fight for the faith once for all given to the holy ones. ⁴For some have slipped in unnoticed, long ago marked out for this judgment — godless people who twist our Father's grace into a license for lust, and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

⁵Now I want to remind you, though you already know all this, that Jesus, having saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. ^a a v5 Some early manuscripts read "the Lord" or "God"; the earliest and strongest read "Jesus." Jude names the one who saved Israel out of Egypt as Jesus — the same Lord who walked with his people through the wilderness. ⁶The angels who didn't keep their own position but left their proper home, he has kept in eternal chains, under deep darkness, for judgment on the great day. ^b b v6 These angels likely refer to the 'sons of God' who left heaven and took human wives (Genesis 6:1–4). ⁷Likewise Sodom, Gomorrah, and the nearby towns, given to sexual sin and pursuit of unnatural flesh, stand as an example, suffering the punishment of eternal fire. ⁸Yet these dreamers likewise pollute their flesh, reject authority, and insult glorious ones. ⁹But Michael the archangel, contending with the devil, argued about Moses' body, not daring to bring an insulting judgment against him, but said, May our Father rebuke you. ^c c v9 This account of Michael and Moses' body comes from a Jewish tradition (the Assumption of Moses), not from the Old Testament. ¹⁰But these people insult whatever they don't understand; what they do understand by instinct, like unreasoning animals, destroys them. ¹¹Woe to them! They took Cain's path, rushed for pay into Balaam's error, and died in Korah's revolt. ¹²These are hidden reefs at your love feasts, feasting with you without fear, feeding only themselves — dry clouds blown by wind, fruitless autumn trees, twice dead, uprooted. ¹³Wild waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars, for whom deepest darkness is kept forever. ¹⁴Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these also: "Look, our Lord Jesus came with ten thousands of his holy ones, ^d d v14 Jude applies Enoch's ancient prophecy to the coming of Jesus — the Lord who returns with his holy ones to bring justice. The New Testament names Jesus as the one who comes in glory with his angels (Matthew 25:31; 2 Thessalonians 1:7). ¹⁵to execute judgment on all and to convict every person of all the ungodly deeds they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him. ¹⁶These grumble and complain, chasing their own desires; their mouths boast, and they flatter people for gain."

Remember What Was Foretold

¹⁷But you, beloved, remember what our Lord Jesus Christ's apostles said beforehand. ¹⁸How they told you: "In the last time there will be mockers, following their own godless desires." ¹⁹These are the ones who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit.

²⁰But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit. ²¹Keep yourselves in the love of our Father, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, leading to eternal life. ²²And have mercy on those who doubt; ²³save some by seizing them from the fire; show others mercy in fear, hating even the garment stained by their sin.

Our Father Keeps You

²⁴Now to him able to keep you from stumbling and set you blameless before his glory with great joy, ²⁵to our Father alone, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen. ^e e v25 Jude offers all glory to our Father, the only God and Savior, through Jesus his Son — Father and Son distinguished yet one in the worship they receive.