Jude
1 From: Judah, a worker enslaved to Jesus Christ, and brother of Jacoba
To: the called who have been watched over by Jesus Christ and loved in connection with Father God
2 May loving faithfulness, peace, and love be increased for you.b
3 Loved ones, while hurryingc to write to you about our shared liberation,d I had a need to write to you encouraging you to contend for the faithfulnesse given over permanently to those who have been dedicated for a purpose.f 4 That’s because some people have crept in—contemptuous peopleg who were announced for this verdict long ago—changing the generosityh of our God into lack of restraint and disregarding our only master and lord, Jesus Christ.
5 I’m intending to remind you (since you’ve learned these things once already) that Jesus,i after rescuingj the people from the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who were not faithful. 6 Also, he has guarded messengers,k those who did not guard their own region but instead deserted their own home, in permanent imprisonment under darknessl for the assessment on the big Day. 7 They are like Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns that were like them—similarly going out and sexually exploiting peoplem and leaving to go back to another familyn—which suffer a sentence of agelong fire and are presented as an example.
8 Nevertheless, in the same way, these people who dreamo not only stain the body, but they also disregard authority,p and they also speak disrespectfully against those with impressive reputations.q 9 However, Michaelr the lead messenger,s when he disputedt with the False Accuseru about Moses’ body and discussed it, didn’t bring himself to impose a disrespectful assessment, but instead, he said, “The Lord can evaluatev you!” 10 But these people not only speak disrespectfully againstw anything they do not understand, but they also innately understand everything as if they were irrational animals, and they are corrupted by these things. 11 They’d better watch out because they traveled the path of Cain, dealt out the pay for Balaam to go the wrong way, and destroyedx themselves in Korah’s controversy. 12 These are people who are hazardsy at your love feasts,z feasting together disrespectfully,aa tending to themselves.bb They are waterless clouds carried around by the winds, trees in the autumn without fruit—twice dead and uprooted, 13 wild sea waves foaming disgraceful actions over themselves, and stars wandering off course for whom total darknesscc has been reserved for the Age.
14 Enoch, who was from the seventh generation from Adam, also prophesied about them, saying, “Look, the LORD camedd with innumerableee of his people who were dedicated for a purposeff 15 to make an assessmentgg against everyone and to examine each living beinghh concerning all their disrespectful actions which they did disrespectfullyii and concerning all the vicious things which disrespectful deviators spoke against him.”jj 16 These people are complainers and blamers who travel according to their desires for themselves, and their mouths say excessively self-important things,kk impressing peoplell for their own benefit.
17 But you, loved ones, be mindful of the statements that have already been made by the emissaries of our lord, Jesus Christ 18 because they told you, “At the end of themm time, there will be people who mock others,nn traveling according to their own disrespectful desires.”oo 19 These people are the ones who cause separation, selfishpp people who do not have the Life-breath. 20 But you, loved ones, who build onto yourselvesqq because of the most sacred aspect of your faithfulnessrr and who pray with the Sacred Life-breath, 21 watch over yourselves with the love of God, acceptingss the loving faithfulness of our lord Jesus Christ for agelong life. 22 Certainly, show loving faithfulness toward those who separate themselves.tt 23 Also, restoreuu them, pulling them out of the fire. Also, show loving faithfulness toward them with respect,vv hating even the clothes stained by bodily impulsiveness.ww
24 To the one who is able to protect you, so you don’t fall downxx and so you stand without blemish in celebration in the presence of his praiseworthiness— 25 to the only God, our liberator,yy through Jesus Christ our lord, be praise, celebration,zz strength, and authority before the whole Age, now, and for the whole Age. Amen.
FOOTNOTES:
a Traditionally, ‘James’ but the Greek is Iakobon, the same as for Jacob, father of Joseph and his brothers. Church tradition is that Ioudas (Jude/Judah) and Iakobon (James/Jacob) were two of Jesus’ brothers, sons of Miriam (Mary) and Joseph.
b All instances of ‘you’ and ‘your’ are plural, referring to the audience as a collective.
c Literally, ‘making all haste’
d Traditionally, ‘salvation.’ This word carries a meaning of any kind of action to prevent or repair harm. Appropriate translations could be ‘liberation,’ ‘restoration,’ ‘rescue,’ ‘healing,’ ‘preservation,’ or ‘protection.’
e Or ‘trust’ or ‘commitment’ or ‘allegiance’
f Traditionally, ‘holy.’ Another succinct way to translate it can be ‘sacred.’ The phrase ‘those who have been dedicated for a purpose’ is a longer phrase describing what ‘holy’ and ‘sacred’ mean.
g Traditionally, ‘the ungodly.’ The word means to be ‘irreverent’ or ‘disrespectful’ often specifically in a religious context, but also of other things that deserve respectful treatment, such as a death or a marriage.
h Traditionally, ‘grace’
i Or ‘Joshua.’ It is unusual for the biblical writers to attribute ancient events directly to Jesus. The Greek name Iesous, traditionally translated into English as ‘Jesus’ in the New Testament, is the same way the Greek refers to Joshua in the Hebrew Bible. This could be a reference to Joshua who was mentored by Moses and led the people after Moses died.
j Or ‘liberating’ or ‘protecting’ or ‘saving’
k Traditionally, ‘angels.’ However, ‘angel’ is not a translation. It’s just taking the Greek word angelos, which means ‘messenger’ or ‘agent’ and transferring it to English lettering.
l This word means ‘darkness’ and can be used to refer to the darkness of night, the darkness of death and the underworld or the ‘land of darkness’ referring to the western horizon where the sun sets. The use of the preposition hupo, meaning ‘under’ suggests it may be referring to death and the underworld, but it is not explicit.
m In Genesis 19, the residents of Sodom and Gomorrah attempted to rape the messengers God sent to visit Lot and his family who were living there.
n This word is sarx, traditionally, ‘flesh’ and which literally means the stuff a body is made of. This seems to be a reference to Genesis 19:26 when Lot’s wife turned back toward Sodom and Gomorrah and was turned to a pillar of salt. Then, as in the English phrase, ‘my flesh and blood’ (a possible usage of the word), sarx refers to the people group one identifies membership in, and it is implying those who turn back to go to another family group than the Family of God.
o Or ‘these people who are dreaming also…’ or ‘these people, while dreaming, also…’
p This word is kuriotes, literally ‘lordship’ and related to kurios (lord) and kurie (lady). Another way to translate it might be ‘jurisdiction’ or ‘domain.’ It is what is under a person’s authority or the person’s authoritativeness regarding a region or subject.
q Traditionally, ‘glories’ or interpretively, ‘glorious beings.’
r This name means, ‘Who is like God.’
s Traditionally, ‘archangel,’ but like ‘angel’ this isn’t a translation but rather taking archangelos from Greek letters and transliterating it into English letters. Archangelos is a compound word of arche (lead, ruler, first, beginning, origin) and angelos (messenger, agent).
t Or ‘oppose’ or ‘withdraw.’ The basic meaning is to make a distinction between two alternatives.
u Traditionally, ‘devil.’ The Greek diabolon literally means ‘false accuser.’
v This verb form is a fairly rare ‘optative mood.’ It signifies something that is possibly true. It is sometimes used to express a wish or endorsement for that possibility. If this is a wish or endorsement here, it would read, ‘Let the Lord evaluate you.’ Either way, Michael was letting go of being the one to do it.
w Traditionally, ‘slander’ or ‘blaspheme’
x Many translations take this verb to be a ‘proleptic aorist’ which means it is an aorist tense verb (usually but not always about the past) that is about a future that is so determined as to be as if it already happened. Greek tenses are not actually about timing explicitly. Aorist tense is about a verb that occurs at a definite point, which is usually applicable to past events.
y Literally, a rock, reef, or ledge in the sea that a ship is liable to crash into.
z ‘Love feasts’ are what many early groups of Jesus’ students called their gatherings when they ate and shared life and worship together.
aa Or ‘fearlesslessly’
bb The implication seems to be ‘tending ONLY to themselves.’
cc Or perhaps, ‘deathly darkness.’ This literally says, ‘the darkness of the darkness,’ using two different Greek words for darkness. The first one zophos was used in verse 6, and it can be used of the darkness of death or the underworld. The other word skotos is the more commonly used word for darkness in the Bible. A similar word tzalmavet in Hebrew is traditionally translated as ‘shadow of death’ and may be connected in the mind of the writer.
dd This is another possible proleptic aorist, which would make it future tense at a definite point in time, whereas regular future tense does not specify the definiteness. Aorist, however, most commonly indicates actions that have already happened at a definite point. It seems best to translate as past tense because it is a quotation of 1 Enoch describing a vision that he had in the past, even though the text of 1 Enoch states that the vision was about a future generation.
ee Or ‘tens of thousands’
ff Traditionally, ‘saints’ or ‘holy ones.’ “People who were dedicated for a purpose” serves to describe what ‘holy ones’ means.
gg Or ‘verdict’ or ‘sentence’
hh Traditionally, ‘soul,’ or ‘life,’ or ‘being.’ The word literally refers to the breath and life energy keeping a person alive, which seems to be more individually focused, whereas pneuma seems to indicate something of life-breath in a way that connects beings, a life that is shared.
ii More literally, ‘by which they were disrespectful’
jj This is a reference to 1 Enoch 1:9 and its context. It is not a direct quotation, so it seems the writer is either paraphrasing or is quoting an oral tradition rather than the written text of 1 Enoch.
kk Or ‘oversized’ or ‘swollen’ or ‘overloaded,’ or ‘overbearing’
ll Literally, ‘amaze faces’ or ‘make faces amazed’
mm Some manuscripts include the Greek word for ‘the’ here and others don’t. The seemingly more reliable ones include it.
nn Or ‘mockers’
oo Reference to 2 Peter 3:3
pp This word psuchikos is the adjective form of ‘being’ or ‘soul’ or ‘individual breath/life-energy,’ indicating its someone who is characterized by prioritizing their own survival or thriving rather than prioritizing shared survival and thriving.
qq This word is an image of constructing additional parts of a building onto the original portion of the building.
rr Or ‘trust’ or ‘commitment’
ss Or ‘expecting’
tt Or ‘dispute’ or ‘withdraw’ or ‘are at odds’ (with themselves or others)
uu Or ‘protect’ or ‘save’ or ‘liberate’ or ‘heal’ or ‘preserve’
vv Traditionally, ‘fear.’ This word can be translated as ‘fear,’ but it is also commonly translated as ‘respect’ or ‘reverence,’ which seems to make much more sense here.
ww Traditionally, ‘the flesh.’ Perhaps, ‘brashness’ would be an appropriate translation here. This phrase refers back to Jude, verse 8 and intensifies it. The word is sarx in Greek, which most literally means the stuff bodies are made of. It is regularly used about the instincts or shortsighted, impulsive desires for immediate gratification regardless of the consequences for others or for long-term effects. Contrary to what some people teach about this verse, the immediate context is not about sexual sin, but the context of verse 8 does have to do with sexual exploitation and sexual violence. The immediate context is about people’s self-important attitudes that manifest in mocking others and creating hostile disputes and cruel divisions. The opposite is being committed to treating others with love, faithfulness and respect regardless of differences. In both cases, whether it is arrogant people speaking in a way that is demeaning of others or of people who use sexual violence to gratify their desires for sexual pleasure and power over others, the cure is to show loving faithfulness and respect, refusing even the clothing associated with such harmful behaviors.
xx Or ‘stumble’
yy Or ‘restorer’ or ‘protector’ or ‘savior’ or ‘healer’
zz Traditionally, ‘majesty’ or ‘magnification.’ It has to do with promoting a high reputation, praising to make widely known and well thought-of.