1Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called:
These filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities. 1:8
Trivia: What did the devil and Michael the archangel argue about, according to Jude 9?
1-3
1Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called:
From Jude, the brother of James [1]
to all true believers.
2Mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied.
3 Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.
Mercy, peace and love.
4-15
4 For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.
Certain ungodly men who were ordained by God [2]
to deny Jesus have snuck in among us.
5 I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not.
Remember how the Lord saved the people from Egypt
and then destroyed those who didn't believe? [3]
6 And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.
And God imprisoned the angels who left their homes [4]
with everlasting chains and darkness
until the judgment on the great day.
7 Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.
Sodom and Gomorrah committed fornication
by going after strange flesh. [5]
God made an example of them by burning them with eternal fire.
8 Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities.
Likewise these filthy dreamers defile the flesh,
despise dominion, and speak evil of dignitaries.
9 Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.
Even Michael the archangel when he argued with the devil about the body of Moses didn't blame the devil, but said, [6]
God will rebuke you.
10 But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves.
They are brute beasts that corrupt themselves.
11Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Korah.
12 These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;
These people ruin your feasts by feeding themselves.
They are waterless clouds,
fruitless, twice-dead trees, plucked up by their roots.
13 Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.
They are waves foaming with their own shame,
wandering stars in the blackest of skies.
14 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,
15To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.
Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about them, saying,
The Lord is coming with 10,000 saints [9]
to punish everyone, especially the ungodly
for their ungodly deeds
which they have ungodly committed,
and for their hard speeches
which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. [10]
16-21
16These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because of advantage.
They are murmurers and complainers,
walking after their own lusts.
17 But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ;
18 How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts.
Remember the words of the apostles that said [11]
there'd be mockers in the last days, [12]
who would follow their own ungodly lusts.
19 These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit.
These people would separate themselves,
and be sensual, not spiritual.
20 But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,
21 Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
But keep your most holy faith by praying in the Holy Ghost.
22-25
22And of some have compassion, making a difference:
Some make a difference by having some compassion.
23 And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.
24 Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,
Others save people with fear, pulling them out of the fire,
hating the garments that are soiled by the flesh.
25 To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.
Amen.
The author claims to be "Jude, the brother or James," which means he is also claiming to be the brother of Jesus, since that was the most famous James among believers at the time (Gal.1:19).
He was lying, of course.
God pre-ordained that certain "ungodly" men would deny Jesus. Do humans have free will?
What the Bible says about determinism and free will
The angels referred to here are the "sons of God" that had sex with human females to produce a race of giants. (See Genesis 6:4)
God sent "eternal fire" on the people of Sodom and Gomorrah for "going after strange flesh."
This story is taken from the non-canonical book, The Assumption of Moses.
Balaam is the nice guy with the talking donkey. He was killed, with God's approval, during the Midianite massacre.
DWB: The Midianite massacre: Have you saved all the women alive?
DWB: Korah and his companions are buried alive (along with their families)
This prophecy is from the Book of Enoch (which the author considered scripture and believed was written by Enoch), not from the Bible. Was Enoch the seventh from Adam?
Ungodly was Jude's favorite word. He used it four times in this sentence and six times in 25 verses.
Jude was written in post-apostolic times, so it's author could not have been the apostle Jude (Luke 6:16, Acts 1:13, John 14:22) as believers sometimes claim.
The author of Jude thought he was living in the last days before the end of the world.
Every Jot and Tittle: All the commandments in the Bible
